The Meitantei Turnabout
by OwlsCantRead
Summary: A murder happens at the Haido City Hotel when Phoenix Wright is on vacation. Once again, he's hired as the defense attorney, but this time something unusual happens: a very smart and sarcastic first-grader is also poking his nose into the same case. With the boy appearing to hide dark secrets of his own, what exactly is the truth behind this murder?
1. A Surprise Lockdown at Beika

" _We go on and on about our differences. But, you know, our differences are less important than our similarities. People have a lot in common with one another, whether they see it or not." — William Hall_

Disclaimer: I don't own either Ace Attorney or Detective Conan, although that's probably for the best since Capcom and Gosho Aoyama are both much better when it comes to creating crazy epic elaborate murder mystery schemes.

Words in _italics_ indicate thoughts.

This story is set after the latest completed instalments/arcs for both series, which is Spirit of Justice for Ace Attorney and the Bourbon Arc for Detective Conan. This means that the fic will divulge from canon at these points. Also, fair amount of spoilers if you haven't caught up! Without further ado, enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 1: A Surprise Lockdown at Beika**

"Attention all passengers, this is your captain speaking. We are approaching Tokyo International Airport and will land in five minutes. During the landing sequence, we advise all passengers to fasten your seat belts and turn off all mobile phones—"

An exaggeratedly loud yawn from a woman dressed in purple around the middle of the plane interrupted the plane captain's announcement on the intercom. "Doesn't really matter to me, I've set my phone to airplane mode. What about your phone, Nick?"

The blue-suited man seated to her right rolled his eyes, before holding up a blue cell phone using his left hand. "Maya, how many times do I have to tell you that I don't know how to use this thing?" Phoenix Wright sighed, putting his head on his lap, "Like even after all these years, I don't even know how to switch the ringtone from the Steel Samurai theme you set. Doesn't that tell you something?"

"Awww…" Maya pouted at his suggestion. "Why would you even want to change such awesomeness? The Steel Samurai phone ringtone is perfection!"

"Oh, don't you even start about the Steel Samurai. That children's show is the sole reason why I'm even on this plane with you in the first place. I could be resting at home if we never won those tickets, y'know?"

"You're such a couch potato, Nick! Going to the fresh outdoors never killed anyone." She carried on as Phoenix coughed something into his arm that sounded suspiciously like 'yes it did'. "And besides, I won those free tickets in the lucky draw fair and square!"

"I almost think that you channelled a spirit just to mess with the results," he muttered in response.

"I did not!" she denied furiously, "Whatever makes you think that I did something like that?"

Phoenix just gave her a deadpan stare, shrugging. "Oh, I dunno. I've known you for so many years now, so it just happened to be the first thought on my mind."

"Nickkkkk! Even if I would use my channelling powers to rig a contest, I won't do it for a Steel Samurai contest! The Steel Samurai is about justice! I can't betray him like that! It'll be like casting my lot in with the Evil Magistrate!"

Phoenix ignored all the show references and zeroed in on the main point he'd realised from her last statement. "So you admit that you would rig a regular lottery contest in your favor?" he smirked.

"Uhhhh… so, as I was saying, the Steel Samurai!" Maya hurriedly changed the topic, not willing to say more, "The official Neo Olde Tokyo live musical concert is the first time I'm going overseas for a live action Steel Samurai concert!"

"Geez, Maya." Phoenix moaned, stretching his legs as best as he could on the economy class plane seat. "Neo Olde Tokyo and the real Tokyo are not the same place. You're getting excited over visiting a place that doesn't exist…"

Phoenix trailed off when he saw Maya leaned over towards him, tears threatening to pour out of her eyes. "Uhhhh…" he brushed his spiky hair nervously, trying to take back his words. "I'm sorry for—"

"Hahahaha!" Maya's sudden shrill laughter put an end to Phoenix's informal apology. "Come on, Nick! Can't you tell that I was pulling your leg? Even though I'm a self-proclaimed obsessed Steel Samurai fangirl…"

"A very big one," Phoenix mumbled, remembering all the times in the past she would bring her Steel Samurai DVDs to his law office and blast them at full volume. "Oh sorry, continue," he hurriedly added after he saw Maya puff her cheeks out in irritation at his rude interruption.

Maya let out her breath before she carried off from where she left off, "Even I know Neo Olde Tokyo doesn't really exist. We visited Global Studios in the Steel Samurai case, remember? I saw all their film sets, I'm not an airhead! It's just that the concert at Japan just happens to be called the 'Neo Olde Tokyo' musical."

"So it's just a coincidence, huh?" Phoenix placed his head down on his arm, supported by his elbow.

"But there's a reason it's called the 'Neo Olde Tokyo' concert! This is the first time they are releasing the series in Japan! Think of it as a debut live pilot! This concert's going to be huge! You know the small-scale Steel Samurai live shows I used to drag you to in the past?"

"Excuse me? Those were small-scale?" Phoenix asked, recalling the ridiculous amount of fans every time he was dragged to a live show.

"Small scale compared to this! This concert is a live crossover musical with one of their local shows, so the expected turnout is gonna be massive!"

"Just what I needed, the chance to be squished into a human sardine."

Maya ignored Phoenix's negative remark, continuing to gush, "It's going to be held in a place called the Haido City Hotel, a luxurious hotel in Beika City. Aren't you excited, Nick?"

Phoenix's reply was blunt, "Meh."

"Do you remember the last time you were at a hotel, Mr. Nick?"

"Yeah, I do. It was the Gatewater Imperial Hot… hey, wait a minute!"

 _Did she just say 'Mr. Nick'?_ Phoenix's eyes widened as he came to the realization that the one who had just spoken wasn't Maya.

"Pearls? Is that you?" He looked to Maya's side to see the offending spirit medium seated to Maya's left look sheepish at being caught out. "Weren't you and Trucy supposed to be asleep? The plane ride was twelve hours long!"

"Daddy!" Phoenix almost jumped out of his seat in shock as his adopted daughter Trucy Wright scolded him from the seat to his right. "You should know the difference between someone who's dozed off and someone who's pretending to sleep. We woke up five minutes ago when the captain made the touchdown announcement."

"Yep, Trucy and I woke up a while ago!" Suddenly, Pearl's brown eyes turned mischievous as she made a remark, "It's nice of you to be at a hotel with Mystic Maya again, Mr. Nick. So you do remember when I booked the romantic honeymoon suite for the two of you at Gatewater Imperial!"

Before the sputtering Phoenix could utter a retort, the plane captain announced that touchdown was commencing, forcing him to save his remarks for Pearl until they got off the plane.

* * *

From the time they had checked out of Tokyo International Airport to the time they had arrived at the Haido City Hotel after taking a train to Beika City, the conversation shifted across multiple different topics. It had started with Pearl's incessant shipping and was currently now at the exhilarating topic of… burgers.

"I heard that in Japan, there are vending machines that serve burgers! A fully automated burger dispenser, Nick!" Maya pumped her fist in the air in her excitement, exclaiming, "These people are geniuses! This invention has endless possibilities!"

"Of course a freaking burger machine is the first thing that you'd focus on after getting off the train, Maya," Phoenix muttered under his breath, his irritation plainly obvious to the others. Maya had a near insatiable appetite when it came to burgers. "I'm so glad that no one here can understand that you were talking about burgers," he admitted.

"That's where you're wrong, Nick! All of us mediums from Kurain Village know how to speak Japanese as our second language!" Maya informed Phoenix as the four walked inside the front doors to the Haido City Hotel. "Even Pearly knows the language! The Fey Clan has relations and ancestors dating back to this country, you baka!"

Phoenix felt a tad annoyed by the insult. "Very funny, Maya, but I know what 'baka' means."

"Wait, you understood that?" Maya said with surprise.

"First of all, everyone knows what the word 'baka' means. But as a matter of fact, I do know how to speak Japanese as well," Phoenix informed Maya with a cocky grin on his face. "It's a requirement by our country's bar law to learn Japanese before you can pass the law."

"What? Really, Nick?" Maya's look of surprise turned into a cheeky smile, "And here I thought that you were someone who hated travel."

"I only needed to learn it because of my profession. That being said, I don't use honorifics. I can't remember all of them."

"What! But the locals don't like it if you don't use honorifics! It's rude!"

"Eh," Phoenix shrugged. "As I said, I only learned it for court purposes in the first place. I think people have to say their full names in court anyway."

"Wait, does that mean that Trucy is the only one who can't converse with the locals here?"

"Nope! My old daddy used to teach me some Japanese as well since we were travelling magicians. And even if I didn't know, not to worry! I could just show a trick or two! Our profession is universal!" Trucy said, placing her arm to her hip in what was a familiar position to Phoenix.

"Don't do it, Trucy! I know you're going to activate Mr. Hat! I get the point!" Phoenix shouted.

"You're a magician, aren't you?" a kiddish voice speaking in English suddenly questioned from behind the group.

The four turned around to the source of the voice, only to see…

"Nick, Nick, look! He's dressed just like you!"

Phoenix couldn't believe Maya's words until he saw the person who spoke for himself.

The one who had spoken happened to be a young bespectacled brown-haired boy. He was dressed in blue, with a red bowtie tied around his collar and red soccer shoes.

Maya was right — that blue attire really did make the boy resemble him. The moment Phoenix realized that, he blurted out the first thing on his mind.

"What?!"

Maya had significantly more to say than he did. "You poor child! Oh my god, that fashion sense is awful! His parents need to be charged for felony! Dressing a young extrovert child up in a formal blue suit with a bowtie? That's almost criminal!" She walked over to the child and squished his cheeks, talking in a babyish tone of voice, "Did your parents force this suit on you? Yes, they did, yes they did! Bad parents!"

Phoenix sighed when he saw Maya glomping the child. "Maya… you and Pearl are dressed in traditional spirit garb. You of all people have no right to comment on fashion, not when you're wearing that old-fashioned purple one-piece… ouch!"

His cheek suddenly stung red after Pearl performed one of her trademark forceful slaps. "Don't say that to a lady, Mr. Nick! Apologize to Mystic Maya!" she scolded.

Phoenix winced, rubbing his sore cheek. "Okay, I admit that I was asking for that one."

Before he could say more, Trucy spoke up, "Daddy! Don't interrupt me! I want to know how the kid guessed correctly!" Switching to Japanese, she knelt down towards the boy and asked, "How did you know?"

"I did not guess. It was basic deduction," the boy switched to his native tongue, speaking with a professional tone of voice. "Your right palm was constantly curled inwards, which gives the impression that you practice sleight-of-hand. The sleight-of-hand is a technique used by magicians to palm coins and cards. That, coupled with the fact that you're dressed in a cape, allowed me to come to that conclusion."

"Eh? That's stuff about sleight-of-hand is… absolutely correct!" Trucy exclaimed with shock. "Wow, you're better at magic than my assistants! Polly doesn't know how I keep making coins appear behind his ear to this very day! How do you know all this magic stuff?" she asked, legitimately curious. It wasn't common for the public to know the secret behind techniques like sleight-of-hand.

"I… know someone who loves to perform magic tricks," he replied, his eyes briefly flashing dark as if he was recalling a painful memory.

"Oh my gosh, that's awesome!" Trucy squealed. "How old are you?"

"Right now I'm in first grade, so that makes me seven."

As the two made small talk, Maya walked back to Phoenix and chuckled. "Admit it, Nick! He even looks a little like you!" Phoenix happened to notice the boy furrowing his brow for a momentary flicker at Maya's words, but he turned back to Trucy just as quickly, as though nothing he had happened.

"Not really," Phoenix retorted, feeling the need to defend himself. For crying out loud, the boy's hair wasn't even spiky like his was! They weren't that similar! "Come on, my eyesight's perfect, I don't wear glasses. If anything, that bowtie and suit reminds me more of Edgeworth."

Maya raised an eyebrow at the mention of the prosecutor's name. "Edgeworth? Why would you say that?"

"When I was younger, in elementary school to be specific, Edgeworth would always wear a suit and bowtie. I remember it very clearly because that was the attire he'd wore when he defended me in the class trial that time when we were in fourth grade."

"Awww! That's so cute! So do you think this is Edgeworth No. 2, Nick?" she asked, pointing at the child.

"Perhaps…" Phoenix mused.

"I think that maybe this is Mr. Eh-ji-worth's clone!" Pearl added her own input.

Phoenix proceeded to leer at her disapprovingly. "Pearls, did Maya make you watch too many movies?"

"Hey, don't you insult my movies!" Maya cried out. "For your information, the sixth Steel Samurai movie has a cloning subplot where the Evil Magistrate made an evil edgy clone of the Steel—"

"La-la-la-la-la, I'm not listening!" Phoenix hurriedly covered his ears before he could hear anything stupid.

All of a sudden, a gloved hand reached for his arm, grabbing his attention. "Trucy! Don't distract me when I'm covering my ears!" Phoenix yelped. "Do you want me to listen to Maya's Steel Samurai nonsense?"

"That's not the reason!" Trucy pointed back at the child from earlier, looking glum. "I'm upset, Daddy! That kid said that he didn't want to be my assistant!"

"Trucy… has it ever occurred to you that you live in different countries? You can't scout an assistant like this."

"It's not that! He just said that he had no interest in magic whatsoever! What a downer! He said he wanted to be a detective when he grew up!"

"Huh? A detective? Like Gumshoe?" Phoenix felt a twinge of guilt at the thought. He hadn't seen the green-suited clumsy detective in over seven years. Phoenix looked back at the young boy just as a sneaky thought entered his mind. "But who knows, he might change his mind."

"Really?" Trucy grinned at the thought of having a new recruit.

Phoenix couldn't keep himself from smiling like an idiot before he delivered the punchline. "Yeah! Maybe he'll be a lawyer like me and Edgeworth when he grows up!"

He expected to see Trucy pouting at him for bringing her hopes up and tearing it down in one fell swoop. What he did not expect was Maya adding to the situation.

"Nick, don't influence the young child! Let him dream of being whatever he wants!"

"For now, Maya," Phoenix snickered, before leaning to Maya's ear and lowering his voice to a whisper. "But when he grows out of childhood, the harsh realities of life will crush those dreams to smithereens."

"I don't think so, Nick. You never crushed Pearly's childish dream, because she's still trying to get us together to this very day."

Crap. Maya definitely had him there. "Well, besides Pearls, most children will have their dreams crushed."

"Is there some resentment I detect in there, Nick?" Maya started smiling faintly when she realized that Phoenix probably had a reason for acting this way.

Whup, looks like she figured it out yet again.

He sighed, admitting the truth. "To be honest, I took a degree in art when I was in Ivy University. Long story short, it didn't work out." Before Maya could reply, he strolled over to the young boy. He didn't want to hear what smart remark Maya would say to what he had just said.

"It was nice to meet you, kid. You made my daughter really happy." Phoenix knelt down to the bespectacled child, patting his head with a smile. "What's your name?"

The boy scratched his head with his right arm at the spot Phoenix had just ruffled, before exclaiming with a childish tone, "My name's Conan! Edogawa Conan!"

To Phoenix's complete surprise, right after he introduced himself, chains began to surround Conan, finally culminating in five red locks slamming down around the boy.

He couldn't keep his jaw from dropping.

 _Wait a moment… seriously? Psyche-Locks?!_

Phoenix couldn't keep the shock out of his eyes at the unexpected appearance and sheer number of the Psyche-Locks. Conan tilted his head slightly at Phoenix's weird reaction. To be frank, Phoenix couldn't blame the child for his confusion since Psyche-Locks were something that only someone with a Magatama would be able to see.

The Magatama, a green sacred charm in the shape of a figure-nine, was a very useful item that he'd always kept with him ever since Maya gave it to him during the Kurain Village trial. This essential tool was one that he'd often use to his advantage in investigations for trials. Whenever he ran into a witness who clammed up and tried to hide something from him, the rattling chains and locks would appear, visible to him and only him.

Pearl had explained to him exactly what those chains and locks meant when the young medium had charged the Magatama with her spiritual energy, what seemed like an eternity ago.

" _Please take this. I'm sure it will be useful. It will let you see people's secrets, Mr. Nick."_

Despite his skepticism, Phoenix soon found out that she hadn't been lying. The lie detection power of the Magatama was indeed legitimate. The appearance of the "Psyche-Locks", as Pearl called them, would signal to Phoenix that a person was either lying or withholding the full truth from him about a certain topic.

With that knowledge in mind, he would often be able to uncover new evidence and re-confront witnesses later to drag the truth out of them. Having the Magatama around was such an advantage to his job as a defense attorney that he couldn't even remember a time when he hadn't kept it with him. Even during his seven year disbarment, he had always held onto it, tucked safely in his shirt pocket.

The Magatama's lie detection wasn't foolproof since it required him to ask a question to the person in question before it worked its magic. It meant he couldn't detect a lie in a passing conversation unless he got involved. But in his line of work as a defense attorney, investigative interrogations meant that for the most part, the Magatama would be able to inform Phoenix anytime someone was willingly holding something back.

But why the heck did Psyche-Locks even appear on the Conan kid in the first place? It didn't make sense to Phoenix in the slightest. The only possible reason was that Conan was willingly withholding his real name from him.

His first thought was that perhaps the kid didn't trust him. It wouldn't be the first time his spiky hair had scared children away. But he dismissed that idea quickly. If that really was the case, then why would he have five Psyche-Locks?

The number of Psyche-Locks a person had on them directly correlates to how much they wanted to guard that specific secret. The more Psyche-Locks they had, the greater they wanted to lock it within their hearts forever.

Five Psyche-Locks was the maximum number of locks that Phoenix had ever seen on a person. The only thing greater than that was if the secret was completely ingrained into a person's subconscious, which would mean the appearance of the cold, dark Black Psyche-Locks, that of which he had only seen twice in his long career. Black Psyche-Locks were impossible to break by conventional means as they were so ingrained to a person's spirit, it risked permanent damage to a person's soul if forced out.

But five Psyche-Locks appearing on a child was completely ridiculous! He had come across and used the Magatama on murderers who had more to hide, and yet less than five Psyche-Locks had appeared on them. To have five Psyche-Locks meant that a person was completely determined to guard the topic under lock-and-key for the rest of their lives. If those people had it their way, they'll take those secrets with them to their graves.

He'd only ever seen five Psyche-Locks on a child once, when Pearls was nine and vehemently determined to keep him from finding out the truth of what happened at Hazakura Temple. But that was a murder case that was directly related to her mother, Maya, and the Fey Clan, so it made at least some semblance of sense as to why she would have five Psyche-Locks.

"Daddy!"

This, on the other hand, was completely illogical. Why would five Psyche-Locks appear on Conan over a freaking name?! A first-grader should have no reason to want to hide their name this much!

"Daddy!"

Wait a minute… that voice!

"Daddy!" Trucy folded her arms as the distracted Phoenix finally heard her. "Don't just gape at a young child like that. You'll scare him away!"

Pearls nodded in agreement. "Trucy is right, Mr. Nick! Mystic Maya told me that if you open your mouth wide, you'll catch flies in there."

Just as Phoenix snapped back to reality, Conan abruptly looked up and proceeded to give him an unnerving stare. He hurriedly closed his mouth upon seeing Conan's piercing blue eyes gaze into his. The glint of reflected light shining off Conan's glasses only made the young child's already scary glare even creepier.

 _Just what the heck is this kid's deal?! He's like less than ten years old! Why is he making me feel like this? I shouldn't be scared stiff by this guy's stare! He's not even someone with a whip like the trigger-happy Franziska!_

"There you are, Conan-kun! Ayumi-chan and the others were looking for you!"

At the drop of a hat, Conan's hostile scowl instantly dropped. In its place was the sweetest smile Phoenix had seen in a while as the child hastily ran over to the new arrival.

"Ran-neechan!" Conan greeted with excitement.

"Oh, hello!" Trucy called out to the woman. "Is this your child?"

She blushed, hastily correcting Trucy. "No, no, no! Conan-kun is just staying with me."

"Awwwww! He's a really cute child, isn't he? I like him! Can I keep in contact with him?"

Phoenix sighed. It looked like Trucy hadn't given up on having him as her magic assistant.

"You know," Phoenix decided to ask before he lost his chance, "I come from America, so I find Conan an unusual name. Out of curiosity, how was he named Conan?"

"Ah-le-le? You want to know how I was named?" Conan repeated the question with a childish grin on his face. "I can answer that! My parents are both huge fans of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series, so they decided to name me Conan when I was born."

"I see. So that explains why your name is so unusual," Phoenix found himself muttering. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Conan." After the acknowledgement, he found himself strutting away from the group.

"Hey, Nick! Where're you going?!"

He ignored Maya, quickening his pace and turning around a corner in the hallway to get out of everyone's sight. He needed a few seconds to compose himself and think carefully about the situation.

Conan—the seven-year-old child, he had to remind himself—had just given him a bogus, but very plausible cover story as to the origin of his name, almost as though he'd guessed what Phoenix was thinking. What scared him more though was the way that Conan had spoken.

To a normal person, Conan was the splitting image of a precocious child dressed in formal clothes, telling the tale of his Holmes-obsessed parents naming their child after their favorite author. The tone of his voice was overtly that of an innocent child, supported by his body language, which had a cute demeanor when he was talking.

However, since the Magatama told Phoenix that Conan's name was false, it meant that the story about his name was also false. Knowing that fact made Phoenix see Conan in a very different light.

Conan hadn't even flinched once as he relayed the phony story of his name's origin. Instead, he was calm and collected as he told the tale, more so than even some of the murderers he'd faced down in court.

This was utterly absurd. When he himself was seven, his elementary school teacher had been able to spot him telling a fib from a mile away. Children, by their very nature, do not tell lies with such ease. They do not prepare pre-made responses like criminals preparing a foolproof testimony in court.

And yet, Conan's story was rehearsed. It had to be, judging by the way he had calmly stated it without hesitation. It was highly unlikely that he came up with it on the spot. He would have been a stuttering mess if that was the case. Not only that, but if it was a spontaneous lie, then his guardian Ran should have contradicted it.

This meant this wasn't the first time he'd told this story. Furthermore, it also implied that this wasn't the first time he'd lied about this topic to others as well…

Phoenix frowned. The enigma surrounding the young child was growing and he couldn't help but feel that he was onto something huge.

Unfortunately, as of right now, he was stuck. He couldn't coax any more information out of Conan, not when he didn't even have a shred of evidence to support his claim that the name Conan was an alias. If he told Maya and the others about this, they would probably think that he was overreacting.

The only thing that he could do right now was to keep tabs on Conan and confront him about the topic later. Only one thing was for certain — Edogawa Conan was not the child's real name.

Since that was the case, then what on earth was his real name, and why the hell was an elementary school kid trying to keep it secret so desperately?

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Hello there! This is my first ever crossover fic!

The idea of this wacky crossover came about after a crazy moment in the Reddit Fanfiction Discord server when everyone was screaming about lies (not to worry, such chaos is normal).

At that moment, I had a sudden epiphany. It struck me that virtually every lawyer in the Wright Anything Agency is a living lie detector — Phoenix's Magatama, Apollo's Perception ability, and so on. So won't living lie detectors be absolutely troublesome for someone who has to lie about their identity virtually every day?

So after _that_ I decided on placing Conan in the latter position, which meant the plot bunny quickly devolved into a Phoenix and Conan meetup. The concept of two sarcastic people letting their sarcasm meter roll off the chart in a detective vs. lawyer trollin' badger-style conversation then ensued.

I couldn't resist, really. Hope you all enjoy this chaos with me too!


	2. Magic at the Haido City Hotel

**Chapter 2: Magic at the Haido City Hotel**

"It's time for breakfast, Conan-kun! Get up, you sleepy-head! Did you forget what today is?"

Edogawa Conan awoke with a yawn at Ran's voice, kicking the sheets off the bed before he groggily made his way to the kitchen. He stood on tiptoes to climb onto the tall stool.

"Do I remember what today is? How I wish I could forget."

Conan did indeed remember what event was happening today and had already predicted that he was going to need a lot of coffee for it. Grunting with effort due to his tiny body, he poured himself some nice hot coffee from the coffee pot. The amount of coffee that he intended to consume was one that would reach dangerous levels for young children.

When rumors of a live Kamen Yaiba concert had hit Teitan Elementary last month, the resulting reaction from his classmates could only be called chaos. Every single student screamed and howled like wild animals at the hype, to the point where Kobayashi-sensei had to act stern for once to keep order.

Later that day, the rest of the Detective Boys tried to ask for his opinion. Before they could even get one word out, Conan pre-empted them and coldly gave his response, "Sorry, I'm not attending the concert. You guys can go yourself," he said bluntly, not even bothering to try and justify his reason.

Yoshida Ayumi was the first to react. "Conan-kun!" the young girl shouted, "Why don't you want to go?! Don't you like Kamen Yaiba?"

Well, he used to… but he couldn't really say that he was a lapsed fan now, could he? Not when 'Conan-kun' was supposed to be seven, and Kamen Yaiba was all the rage amongst that age demographic.

"Well, I dunno," Conan shrugged back. "I mean, I like the show, but don't you think it's going to be a little expensive for us?" He chuckled to himself at the brilliant excuse he came up with. Concert tickets weren't cheap, after all. That'll throw a wrench in their plans.

Unfortunately, his ticket out was smashed when Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko's eyes lit up. "If you're worried about money, Conan-kun, then we can pool our lunch money together!" The freckled boy clapped his heads at his own suggestion, "That way, all five of us will be able to go!"

Dammit, sometimes Mitsuhiko was too darn smart for a seven-year-old. Conan sighed, realizing that he had severely underestimated these children's love for a kids show. "Fine," he relented, "How much are the tickets?"

"Four thousand yen!" Kojima Genta answered, although his answer's volume was closer to that of a bellow because of his big size. "Normally, the price is eight thousand yen, but we're lucky! It's half price for children!"

Conan whirled around at the words. He had been caught off guard and couldn't keep a fiery rage from flashing in his eyes.

 _It's half price for… children? Hahaha… half price for children, for freaking children! Damn it!_

He almost wanted to lash out at something, but managed to restrain himself at the last second. However, it was still a second too late. Ayumi noticed the change in his expression and looked at him, concerned. "Is something the matter, Conan-kun?"

Conan's eyes widened at being caught out. "Nope! Nothing! I was just thinking about all the pocket money I would need to save for this, heh heh!" he said, hurriedly bringing his rage-filled expression back to normal and forcing a smile.

It wasn't their fault, Conan told himself. They didn't realize that they were making such a callous remark by referring to him as a kid. They didn't know that he wasn't actually a child… that he was really a teenager that had shrunk into one because of a drug.

"You shouldn't complain, Edogawa-kun. You might as well enjoy and take advantage of the discounted prices while you are able to."

Oh, great. Here came the opinion of the one "child" of the Detective Boys who did understand his plight, perhaps a little too well in Conan's opinion.

"Oi, Haibara! I get it, you all outnumber my opinion by four to one, but that doesn't mean that you have to rub it in my face," he muttered with displeasure.

"Yay, we managed to convince Conan-kun! Thank you for choosing to come with us to the musical concert!" Ayumi cheered in delight.

 _You guys didn't give me a choice_ , the present-day Conan thought to himself. But back then, he simply replied with, "No problem, Ayumi-chan."

Conan groaned, finishing his cup of coffee. Eventually the Detective Boys managed to hit a compromise with their most stubborn member. They would all go to the concert under parental supervision, which allowed him to bring Ran and Kogoro-ojisan along so he wouldn't die of boredom. As long as Ran was with him, Conan felt that he might be able to survive the concert unscathed by the cheesy live action effects.

And now the day of that stupid concert had finally arrived. What a waste of time. He could have been doing much better things instead of attending a cheesy kids musical. Like, solve a murder case for instance.

He jumped off the chair, awaiting the inevitable. Maybe if he was lucky a power outage would happen throughout Beika City and the whole concert would be cancelled. Although, Conan suspected that he would probably be the only smiling one in a sea of crestfallen children if that really happened.

"The meetup of the decade has arrived!"

His ears perked up at the words coming from the television set. It appeared as though Kogoro had left the TV on. Unable to contain his curiosity, he walked towards it to get a closer look at the advertisement.

"For the first time ever, two children's shows superheroes will meet in their crossover debut! Japan's Kamen Yaiba and America's Steel Samurai will face off against each other in today's 'Neo Olde Tokyo' live musical act!" As the narrator announced his words in a stereotypical sports announcer tone, Conan saw two masked warriors stare each other down on the TV screen.

He recognized Kamen Yaiba from his childhood, so by process of elimination, the other one had to be the American superhero, the Steel Samurai.

"Who is the better enforcer of justice?" the announcer shouted, inflecting his voice with enthusiasm as both of the superheroes sprinted towards each other, moving in for an attack. "The answer will be soon be known!" As the two struck with a flash, the advert cut away from the clash to a different scene so as to keep the viewer in suspense.

 _Pah, looks like the special effects are still godawful. Figured that even the advert for this thing would be cheesy… just what kind of lousy budget did they give the marketing department for this?_

"One shall rise, and one shall fall! Who will be the winner of this fated duel? For fans of Kamen Yaiba and the Steel Samurai, this is one live concert you cannot possibly afford to miss! This joint venture is brought to you by both Tohto Studios and Global Studios! Hurry and get your tickets now! Remaining tickets are selling fast, as this event will be held for one week only starting from today! We hope to see you here at Beika City's very own Haido City Hotel!"

 _H-Haido City Hotel?!_

A cold memory resurfaced in Conan's head, a dark and merciless voice ringing in his ears as if it was yesterday…

 _"Our target will be at the Haido City Hotel at exactly 6pm. Too bad he doesn't know that it will be his farewell party. A traitor like him must be eliminated before he can rat out our existence. You can use the drug, but do not mess this up, Pisco."_

Conan grabbed the remote and turned the television off, running off to Ran's room. Breathing heavily, he knocked once at the door before barging in.

"Conan-kun?" Ran called out, surprised.

"Ran-neechan!" Conan shouted, eyes wide in fear. "Y-You didn't say that it was being held at the Haido City Hotel!"

"Eh?" Ran gave a confused look at Conan's query. "The ticket stubs I bought online clearly states that the location was Haido City Hotel. Did you not look at them?"

Conan gaped at her, "Really?" Absolutely brilliant. That meant that this whole situation was entirely his fault for leaving Ran to do the ticket booking for the Mouri Detective Agency.

Still, he couldn't help but feel a feeling of dread at the location of the concert. Every protective instinct within Conan absolutely refused to let Ran visit the Haido City Hotel.

Not when They had been there before.

 _They_ went by many names — the Men in Black, the Syndicate, and perhaps the name they were most commonly known by across the various law agencies… The Black Organization.

The Black Organization was a secret group of ruthless criminals with far reaching influence across not only Japan, but the entire world. Their power was far beyond that of any regular small-fry, to the point where even the yakuza or international terrorist groups paled in comparison to them.

Yet in spite of their vast power, they were the most secret criminals in the world. They always hid in the shadows, to the point that their very existence was not known to anyone who wasn't in the loop.

More importantly, those bastards had been the one who ruined his life ever since that fateful day at Tropical Land. The day that he had been fed the drug APTX 4869 by a member of the Organization, a man dressed in black with long silver hair by the name of Gin.

It was an attempted killing, and in a way it had succeeded even though it failed. The apotoxin hadn't killed him, but a rare side effect had happened instead, shrinking him down to his seven-year-old self.

Ever since that day, Kudo Shinichi was dead to the world, and Edogawa Conan stood in his place.

He'd tried to bring down the Black Organization before, but to no avail. They were simply too smart and powerful, and many times he'd found himself back to square one after an encounter, fortunate to simply get away from their ruthless agents alive.

Although at times it appeared as though he would never break the status quo, it hadn't entirely been a wild goose chase in the end. He certainly knew more about the Organization now compared to before, he had managed to locate the creator of the apotoxin, he had allies in the FBI, and he even managed to acquire the phone number of Anokata, the mysterious boss of the Black Organization.

He had to play his cards right. It had taken him almost a year, but he had slowly gained ground against the Organization. They fell for a faked death that he helped plan, had a CIA and a Japanese Secret Police mole within their ranks, and one of their own high-ranking agents appeared to be supporting him. Or at least it appeared that way, because Vermouth was a wild card and her intentions were still a complete mystery to him to this day.

He couldn't risk losing everything by being hasty. That lesson he had been forced to learn the hard way. Maybe one day, if he was patient, he would see the fall of the Organization and finally get an antidote to his "little" problem. When that day finally came, he could be Kudo Shinichi again and things can finally go back to normal.

Shinichi could dream, but until that day was a reality, he was Conan.

And until it was all over, he refused to let Ran get involved in this deadly game of chess, which was why he was now so hesitant on going to the Haido City Hotel. Not when it meant that Ran would be following him to a place that They had been before.

 _Knowing my luck, someone like Gin would be there and… no, don't even go there!_

Unaware of what the boy in front of her was thinking about, Ran began to walk out of the room, "Conan-kun, I think you weren't paying attention. Come, let's go."

"Why must I go to a concert?" he begged, hoping to change her mind. When that didn't work, he tried the next best thing he could think of. "Ugh, I think my stomach hurts! Hellllppp me, Ran-neechan! I think I need… a doctor…" he trailed off, facing turning pale when he realized that Ran didn't buy his act in the slightest, if the stern look on her face was any indicator.

True enough, Ran's eyes narrowed. "Very funny, Conan-kun, but I already paid twenty thousand yen for this family outing. You're not squirming out of it. We're leaving right this minute."

 _Crap, caught out by Ran immediately. Well, it was worth a shot…_

* * *

"Did you see the advertisement they released as a teaser for the concert today on TV, Conan-kun? It was so awesome!" Mitsuhiko said, his eyes still sparkling with admiration at the awesomeness that he had watched an hour ago.

 _You mean that lousy excuse of CGI and special effects that the marketing team spat out onto a primetime slot in order to sucker in kids? To be honest, I can't blame Mitsuhiko and the others from getting suckered in by a cliffhanger like that. Rule of Cool, I guess…_

Before Conan could answer, Mouri Kogoro lashed out and gave his opinion of the situation. "This is so boring!"

Wow. He couldn't believe that he was in complete agreement with Kogoro for once.

"That's because you're old, ojisan!" Genta piped up.

"What did you say, you little brat?"

He sighed, gazing around the lobby of the hotel as Kogoro proceeded to make a fool out of himself as he usually did. It was just too bad that Ran was at the restroom so she couldn't kick her father into submission for being stupid.

As Conan lazily scanned the lobby in boredom, he found that his eyes were suddenly drawn to an unusual object.

 _Wait, is that what I think it is? No way… it can't be!_

He had to squint against the morning sunlight to make sure that he wasn't wrong. Now that he focused his attention to the mysterious object, he realized that his initial hunch was probably right.

He glanced back at the rest of the Detective Boys. Great, he needed to get away from them…

"So, who do you think will win?" Conan suddenly asked out of the blue. If he knew his fellow friends well enough…

"I bet Kamen Yaiba will beat that other guy!" Genta said while pumping his fist.

"Wait, Genta-kun. It could be a ratings trap. They might make Kamen Yaiba lose to the new guy!" the logical Mitsuhiko reasoned.

"No! Kamen Yaiba can't lose!" Ayumi cried out, tears in her eyes.

Yep, they did end up in an argument. Conan used that opportunity to slip away from the group and dash over to the other end of the lobby, unnoticed by the three children or Kogoro. Haibara did notice him but said nothing, merely sighing.

Conan ran in the direction where he had last seen the object in question. It was hard to see because of the sun's glare, but it was shaped like a top hat.

A very familiar looking silk top hat.

Could it be?

No wait, it couldn't possibly be him… there was no heist notice. There was no way it could be who he was thinking of.

 _Gah!_ Conan shook his head to clear his conflicting thoughts. _You're letting presumptions get to you again. Drop all prior assumptions and reassess the situation._

He took a deep breath, still running across the hotel lobby. Now that he had cleared his head, Conan realized that the silk hat he'd seen really could belong to the person that he was thinking of.

Conan felt a smile creeping onto his face at the realization. This was going to be fun. After all, the roof of this very hotel was when he had first come face-to-face with _him_.

* * *

The rays of the full moon shone brightly onto the Haido City Hotel.

Illuminated under the moonlight were two males standing on the roof of the hotel. Now one might think that there was nothing unusual about that, but those who thought that would be very wrong. By right, the hotel roof should have been empty. By all normal accounts, the both of them should have been barred from access.

Too bad both of them were far from normal.

The first of the two was a man dressed entirely in white. The color of his suit and cape stood out in contrast with the dark night, just like the white moon in the black sky. A silk hat and a monocle both sat firmly on his face, obscuring most of it from vision. His outfit alone gave him a bold, confident appearance that screamed 'Look at me!' to an onlooker.

Befitting his attention grabbing nature, he had gotten to the roof by flying there from Tohto Tower using a hang glider. This method of transport had the added advantage of bypassing all of Nakamori's tight security in Haido City Hotel itself.

The second of the two couldn't be more different from the first. Instead of dazzling white, he was dressed in cool navy blue. His eyes gave one the initial impression of an innocent kid, when in reality nothing could possibly be further from the truth. Upon a closer look, those blue eyes showed cunning and intelligence far beyond those of his peers.

Contrary to the ridiculous flight stunt the first guy had pulled off, this young lad had gotten to the hotel roof via a much simpler method — using his appearance to his advantage. His small nature meant that Nakamori's Task Force didn't suspect him of being one of the Phantom Thief's many disguises, and hence he managed to slip past security relatively easily. After all, who would suspect a kid?

The seven-year-old child was here, certain that he had solved the puzzle and that his target would appear here on this very rooftop sometime around 12:30am. His target? The infamous Phantom Thief that had garnered enough attention for Interpol itself to hand out a Red Notice demanding his arrest.

The ICPO knew him as International Criminal No. 1412. However, the jewel thief was far better known throughout the public and his adoring fans by a different moniker — Kaitou Kid.

It seemed the boy's gamble had paid off, because the one that he had been waiting for had just appeared right in front of him, his white cape flowing gently along the wind like the waves of the sea.

There was silence for a moment, until Kaitou Kid eventually became curious as to why an actual kid was on what he had expected to be an empty rooftop. "Yo, kid," he greeted, nonchalantly strolling towards the boy. "It's half past midnight, probably way past your bedtime. Shouldn't you be at home? What is a child like you doing in a place like this?"

He pretended not to hear Kid, instead lighting the fuse of a makeshift firework that he had bought from a convenience store earlier. The firework then blasted off into the air, creating a bang that brightened the pitch black sky around the hotel for just an instant.

 _Alright, now it's show time!_

He had to resist showing a cocky grin at Kid by managing to alert the entire ground force to their exact location from right under the Phantom Thief's nose. Instead, he maintained his innocent facade, mustering the most childlike face and vocal tone that he could feasibly pull off as he answered Kid.

"Fireworks," he exclaimed, opening his arms wide open like an excited child. His lips then curled slightly, his vocal pitch dropping an octave as he sinisterly added, "I'm here for the grand finale."

 _Heh, I haven't had to deal with a mental workout like that solving that heist note for quite a while. Kaitou Kid… you seem to be the playful type, messing with the police and your opponents with those cryptic advance warnings. It's just too bad that this time I happen to be on the case, and I made sure that I would be one step ahead of your little game the whole time._

 _I guess I should thank you for allowing me to be the one to deliver the coup de grâce to your career. After all, the whole reason I'm interested in a mere theft case for once was because you had the gall to announce your moves beforehand. But too bad for you, I know your every move! I've completely seen through your entire plan to steal the Black Star, you so-called professional thief!_

 _Now then, will you be able to see through my own facade before you are arrested and sent to prison for grand larceny, Kaitou Kid?_

The noise of rotors suddenly becoming audible jolted the boy from his thoughts. Deciding that he was having too much fun with this, he decided to further insult the cornered thief. "Oh, there's a helicopter! Looks like it noticed us after it saw the fireworks!" he exclaimed with mock surprise while pointing his arm at the rapidly approaching police helicopter to bring it to Kid's attention.

Of course, it was just him trying to mess with the perceptive thief. Kid had most likely started to fret about the police appearing the second he had let the fireworks soar into the sky. This would have made calling Kid's attention to the helicopter pointless, if it wasn't the fact that he did it solely because he wanted to see the thief squirm at being outwitted.

Kid, however, did no such thing. Instead, he remained extraordinarily calm, appearing to be deep in thought. Eventually, he turned away from the police helicopter and back to the child, a weird smile on his face. "If I were to wager, I'll say you fired those fireworks deliberately to signal the cops. Boy… you're not just an ordinary brat, are you?"

Seeing Kid's posture straighten up, the young boy couldn't keep the smirk he'd been suppressing from forming on his face any longer. It looked like Kaitou Kid had come to the only possible—and correct—conclusion. The Phantom Thief finally saw past the childish facade that he'd shown earlier and realized that he wasn't on the roof by mere accident.

He had been here to capture him.

The game had finally begun.

The boy gazed up, locking his eyes with those of Kaitou Kid's before he finally introduced himself to his opponent.

"I'm Edogawa Conan, a detective."

* * *

The Black Star heist was when Conan had had the misfortune—or perhaps fortune—of meeting the elusive _Magician under the Moonlight_ for the first time. Ever since that first fateful encounter atop Haido City Hotel, the meitantei and kaitou had found themselves engaging in a battle of wits multiple times.

Those deductive battles of theirs ended up becoming quite infamous. Whenever he had the chance to, Conan would try to apprehend the Phantom Thief, which earned him quite the reputation since Kid's fanbase was huge.

At first, it was a passing mention. When the papers found out that the one who had recovered the Black Star was a first grader, they hadn't thought much of it at first.

Just a simple headline and his bored face on the front page. "Defending the Black Star by himself, an Extraordinary Elementary School Student!" it read. He'd scanned through the article, and most of it was the journalist's shock that a child had somehow managed to corner the great thief. It was a minor internet sensation for a while, and then everyone forgot about Edogawa Conan.

Until the next heist.

That heist earned him the nickname "KID Killer" after he had blown the bike the thief had used to escape into smithereens. This time, having seen him in action, Nakamori-keibu had vouched for his intelligence. Once the press realized that a mere child had almost outsmarted the thief not once, but twice, it was all over.

After all, once could have been a coincidence, but twice implied a pattern. The very idea that Kaitou Kid had someone that kept him on his toes? The journalists couldn't resist the scoop. The name "KID Killer" was thus bestowed onto Conan, and they twisted the words to make him sound like Kid's greatest nemesis.

Somehow, Conan had a nagging suspicion that Kid felt the same way about him.

The constant press had always annoyed him though. Normally, a regular person would celebrate if they managed to become famous as the one who could actually nab Kaitou Kid.

But him? He was trying to be undercover, and yet somehow the press made him famous under his Conan alias anyway. Haibara would have thrown a fit, except the Kaitou Kid fiasco had started before they even met, so there wasn't really much she could do about the situation anyway.

The bigger problem to Conan was that he was annoyed by the way the press over-glorified him. Frankly, it was ridiculous. If he was at a Kid heist, the day after, a full page article with the headlines "KID KILLER Strikes Again!" would run in the papers without fail, almost always making front page too.

Coupled with the fact that he had to give interviews to reporters from multiple news agencies about his KID Killer exploits and he concluded that he was arguably just as famous for chasing after Kid under his Edogawa Conan alias as he was at solving mysteries and murder cases as Kudo Shinichi.

But the part that irked Conan more was that the press was acting this way when he'd failed. It boggled his mind. Why was he getting all of this media coverage for attempting to catch Kid, and not actually succeeding at catching Kid?

Maybe all of Kid's fangirls just wanted Kid to win this perpetual cat-and-mouse game between them and were in it for the thrill. After all, Conan knew which side they were on. He could imagine that some of them would have a dartboard with his face on it in their rooms.

Whatever the case, the media always milked their encounters for all it was worth.

Conan always made sure to show the most bored face he could whenever the press came. He had resolved that no picture taken of him after a heist would show a triumphant face unless he managed to capture Kaitou Kid and put him behind bars once and for all.

Alas, just like bringing down the Organization, catching Kid wasn't quite a reality just yet. To this day, he'd still been unable to apprehend Kid. Conan considered it one of his most irritating failures.

Heist after heist after heist and Kid still got away from his grasp every last time. It'd bugged Conan more than once that despite him consistently putting away murderers, a mere thief always managed to evade him.

But no criminal can escape forever…

Now it looked like he finally had his chance to catch the Phantom Thief. As he burst through the crowd, he was surprised by what he found.

The silk hat wasn't white at all. Now that the sunlight wasn't in his eye, the white hat turned out to be light blue.

And said light blue hat was on top of a girl in a matching blue magician suit.

Conan squinted his eyes. If it wasn't for the fact that Kaitou Kid was always in white, he could almost swear that it was him.

"Don't do it, Trucy! I know you're going to activate Mr. Hat! I get the point!"

 _Wait, the man next to her is speaking English! Could they be tourists? No wait, that's too conspicuous. After all, Kaitou Kid has assistants. Could they be trying to throw people off into thinking that? Oh well, since I'm here, I might as well pull an old Kudo trick and use the power of observation to astound them._

Conan decided to test the waters, walking silently behind the group before suddenly making his presence known. "You're a magician, aren't you?" he said in English.

All four of them turned at his voice. "Nick, Nick, look!" the woman dressed in purple pointed at him. "He's dressed just like you!"

Conan couldn't help but nod his head imperceptibly in agreement when he saw the attire of the man named Nick in person. The blue suit that Nick was wearing looked exactly like the one he used to wear as Kudo Shinichi.

But before Conan could complement his fashion, the woman spoke again. "You poor child! Oh my god, that fashion sense is awful! His parents need to be charged for felony! Dressing a young extrovert child up in a formal blue suit with a bowtie? That's almost criminal!"

 _You have no right to question my sense of fashion, lady. I wear what I want._

However, she did the opposite. Conan suddenly felt very invaded as she pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. "Did your parents force this suit on you? Yes, they did, yes they did! Bad parents!" She then proceeded to squish his soft cheeks, somehow not noticing that he was trying to wrestle himself from her grip.

 _Ugh, get off me before I decide to call the cops on modesty charges!_

"Maya… you and Pearl are dressed in traditional spirit garb," Nick stared at his direction with an expression that screamed 'why are you humiliating me', a face that Conan could honestly relate to since he'd shown it to others many times throughout the past year of his life. Nick then continued ranting to Maya, "You of all people have no right to comment on fashion, not when you're wearing that old-fashioned purple one-piece… ouch!"

Conan winced when he saw another smaller girl in purple slap Nick on the cheek. "Don't say that to a lady, Mr. Nick! Apologize to Mystic Maya!" She reminded him a lot of Ayumi… which probably wasn't a good thing.

Nick rubbed his face in visible agony, "Okay, I admit that I was asking for that one."

The girl dressed in blue that he'd been eyeing all this time suddenly turned towards Nick, "Daddy! Don't interrupt me! I want to know how the kid guessed correctly!"

 _Huh? This guy is her father?_

Kneeling down towards Conan, she suddenly switched her language to one he was familiar with. "How did you know?"

 _She knows Japanese! I knew it!_

She knew Japanese and English… just like Kaitou Kid. If her outfit was switched to that of a dazzling white, the girl in front of her could very well be the Phantom Thief.

It definitely wouldn't be the first damn time Kid had himself disguised as a woman.

But would Kaitou Kid really disguise himself as a magician? Wouldn't that be a dead giveaway, considering that the thief was famous for his magic tricks?

Perhaps it was reverse psychology. Conan could already see that bastard smirking and taunting him. "I was right in front of your face, and you didn't even notice, tantei-kun. I'm so disappointed in you." Yep, he could even hear the thief in his mind. It was totally his style to disguise himself as the most obvious person in the area as a form of misdirection.

Well, two can play at that game. He'd act like he didn't suspect a thing on his end and misdirect him as well.

"I did not guess. It was basic deduction. Your right palm was constantly curled inwards, which gives the impression that you practice sleight-of-hand. The sleight-of-hand is a technique used by magicians to palm coins and cards. That, coupled with the fact that you're dressed in a cape, allowed me to come to that conclusion," he revealed his reasoning, looking closely at her reaction.

The magician in blue certainly looked genuinely surprised. "Eh? That's stuff about sleight-of-hand is… absolutely correct! Wow, you're better at magic than my assistants! Polly doesn't know how I keep making coins appear behind his ear to this very day!"

Is this for real? Was this Kid's off day or something? Granted, it very well could be considering there was no heist notice, but surely Kid wouldn't talk about his assistants when he had mentioned them before in previous heists, much less name them!

Maybe he was mistaken. If this was Kid, he had to be either luring him into a false sense of security or really, really unusually careless.

This was probably a tourist just who happened to be a youthful magician and shared various similarities with Kid. Just to check, he had hinted that he knew about Kid by saying, "I… know someone who loves to perform magic tricks", but she hadn't thought anything of those words.

Conan sighed. Oh, how he hated coincidences that were actually legitimate coincidences. Whup, looked like it was time to play the "I'm just a dumb child" card again.

After a few minutes of small talk, he found out more about the magician. Apparently, her name was Trucy Wright and she was from America. By now, Conan was convinced that he had barked up the wrong tree earlier and prepared to walk back to the Detective Boys.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Trucy asked when she saw he turning to leave.

"I need to get back to my family." He raised a hand up to say goodbye. "Perhaps we'll meet again, Trucy-san."

"Don't go!" Her eyes suddenly became pleading. "I have a proposition to make!"

Conan raised his eyebrows. "What proposition?"

"You see, I'm in need of magic assistants for dangerous tricks. And I was thinking that you'll make a great one, you little detective!"

Little detective…

That was the English translation of Kid's regular nickname for him, Tantei-kun.

 _You bastard! You made a fool out of me again!_

Conan glared straight back at the magician. Of course it was _him_. Only this scumbag would dare to recruit him in broad daylight!

"How coincidental…" he started, trying to keep his voice from wavering in anger. "I just happen to want to be a detective when I grow up. So I'm sorry, but I must decline your offer, Trucy-san."

 _Or should I say, Kaitou Kid-san! This time I'm going to beat you!_

Trucy pouted at his response and walked back to her father. Peh, Conan wouldn't be surprised if all of the remaining three were real tourists for him to use as cover.

Unfortunately, this time he had nothing to go on except his hunch. No heist note meant that he couldn't predict any moves and had to react in real-time. He couldn't even prove that Trucy was Kaitou Kid in disguise except for that phrase that she had mentioned earlier.

"It was nice to meet you, kid. You made my daughter really happy. What's your name?"

Conan turned around to see that Nick had posed the question. Deciding to humor him, he answered. "My name's Conan! Edogawa Conan!"

In response, Nick's jaw suddenly dropped. Conan's brow furrowed in worry as he observed Nick's face. One glance told Conan that Nick didn't believe his words. But how? He'd put on his best child imitation voice as he'd introduced himself. Nobody had doubted him when he mentioned his name was Conan.

Except for those who knew from the start that he wasn't Conan to begin with. His eyes narrowed as he felt a cold sweat breaking out. Who the hell was this guy? He stared right at Nick, trying to see if he could remember him from somewhere.

"There you are, Conan-kun! Ayumi-chan and the others were looking for you!"

Conan whirled around, breaking eye contact. That was Ran's voice. Perfect timing, he needed to get out of here! "Ran-neechan!" he shouted, running towards her.

"Oh, hello! Is this your child?" Trucy asked Ran as she gestured at him. Conan couldn't help but flinch and turn bright red at the question. _I swear, I'm going to kill you, Kaitou Kid!_

"No, no, no! Conan-kun is just staying with me." It looked like the flustered Ran didn't fare much better.

"Awwwww! He's a really cute child, isn't he?" Trucy winked. "I like him! Can I keep in contact with him?"

 _Oh, don't worry. I'll make sure to keep in contact with you after the cuffs are slapped onto your wrists._

Just as Conan was about to give a smarmy remark back, Phoenix suddenly posed a question that almost made him gape out loud. "You know, I come from America, so I find Conan an unusual name. Out of curiosity, how was he named Conan?"

 _T-That guy's still on me!_ Before Ran could say anything, Conan hurriedly intercepted her and answered the question himself. "Ah-le-le? You want to know how I was named? I can answer that! My parents are both huge fans of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series, so they decided to name me Conan when I was born."

He heaved a sigh of relief after he concluded. That cover story had served him well over the past year. After all, the best lies are those that held some truth within.

"I see. So that explains why your name is so unusual. Well, it's nice to meet you, Conan," Nick responded before walking away.

Nick's eyes were what betrayed him. Conan was looking carefully at them as the man said his goodbyes, and he had seen them filled with suspicion.

Conan saw that as his cue for Ran and him to leave. He tugged on Ran's sleeve, silently beckoning her away to another area of the lobby. He had a feeling that Trucy was Kaitou Kid in disguise, that much he was almost certain. But then, who was Nick?

The paranoid part of him rose up again. Was this Nick part of Them? Were _they_ on to him? After all, members of the Organization had appeared at Haido City Hotel before.

 _I knew there was a reason why I had such a bad feeling about this damn concert! First Kaitou Kid, and now possibly the Black Organization! And to make matters even worse, Ran's here with me this time._

Conan glanced up at the girl in question, his heartbeat thumping as he realized the stakes. _Hell no, she is so not getting involved in this_ , he decided, face turning firm as he reflexively pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose.

 _I need to figure out who this Nick guy really is and why he's so suspicious of me… and put an end to that suspicion before it becomes a problem._

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

And now we get the meeting from Conan's point of view! No, Trucy isn't Kid (you wish), Conan just thinks she is.

I'll be switching POVs between Phoenix and Conan constantly from now on, though I haven't decided on whether I should switch their POVs during the middle of a chapter yet.

This chapter is pretty lengthy compared to the last one since it serves a secondary function of being a plot dump for those fandom-blind to DCMK. Unlike Ace Attorney, which can basically be summed up as "courtroom shenanigans", this franchise's main plot is a little harder to summarize.

The Black Star was my first Kaitou Kid heist, and it's still an epic one to rewatch. To clarify, Conan's first encounter with Kid and _Reunion with the Black Organization_ are both coincidentally set in the same location as the setting of this story, the Haido City Hotel. I may or may not exploit this.

Better jot this down before I forget since I wrote a Conan and Kid flashback in this chapter, but for this story I'll be following manga continuity where Kid doesn't know Conan's true identity.

Thank you all for your support! It seems like a lot of you like this idea! :D

 **All 6 Guest FFN Reviewers & ArchanyAngel:** Most of these are similar so I'll sum up my replies: Don't worry, I will write more. My update schedule will be a bit more sporadic as I will have limited internet access from October on, but I will still try to update.


	3. Suspicions of a Blue-Suited Kind

A/N: Mild spoilers in this chapter for case 2-4: _Farewell, My Turnabout_.

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Suspicions of a Blue-Suited Kind**

" _My name's Conan! Edogawa Conan!"_

Those accursed five words echoed in Phoenix's head over and over again, bouncing around the lawyer's skull and mocking the lawyer in the boy's childish soprano tone. It became grating to Phoenix when he heard a boyish voice say "My name's Conan!" in his mind for the tenth time. It got to the point where he had to actively remind himself, that no, the boy's name was most definitely NOT Conan.

 _Your name's Conan? Hah, that's a good one! And you know what, while we're talking about false names, here's my name, Larry Butz! How's that for ya?_

 _Great, now I'm really going crazy. I'm literally arguing with my inner conscience about a false name. Like seriously._

Damn it all, Phoenix couldn't help but be snarky about it. The whole thing was so utterly surreal. Why did weird stuff like this always happen to him? Laughing about it was all he could do to keep that boy's spooky glare and bogus introduction away from his nightmares.

 _At least this was a way to make sure that I don't forget your name! Sheesh, normally I'm forgetful when it comes to names and faces, but thanks to those Psyche-Locks I doubt I'll ever forget about "Edogawa Conan" even after I fly back to the United States._

Those five innocent words that could have just been a small boy's regular introduction became infinitely more frightening when the five Psyche-Locks showed that it was a lie.

Why couldn't Conan have just told him the truth? Oh yeah, because that would make everything easy, and as far as Phoenix was concerned, nothing ever went the easy route for him.

The fact that a seven-year-old lied about his identity so naturally was a red flag to Phoenix, a lawyer who had encountered many, many, many lies from witnesses before in the courtroom. Not to mention the fact that Conan apparently had something important to hide, which made this whole situation so much more complicated than it needed to be.

The appearance of the multiple Psyche-Locks on Conan was ominous to him though. These locks almost always appeared succeeding a murder case, since key witnesses often had things to hide. However, this was one of the few times he'd seen them prior to anything wrong even happening. He couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding dread, as though something bad was about to happen.

Phoenix sighed loudly as he walked back to Maya and the others, hoping that once his head was cleared up he would be able to face that creepy kid without flinching. What did he even do to deserve this? Why didn't anything good ever happen to him?

Five damn Psyche-Locks! And on a seven-year-old child too!

A child that should have been remorsefully looking down and speaking hesitantly when he was fibbing, not look straight into the eye of an adult and confidently lie without the slightest hint of a flinch.

Just what kind of person was he?

 _Gah, just forget about the darn kid_ , Phoenix told himself in vain. As he turned around the corner and back to the lobby, he heard Maya's distinctive voice. One more second later and he was able to see her flailing around, jumping about like a bunny with additional springs on its feet.

"Nickkkkk! You should know better than to run off on us! You even ignored me when I was calling after you, you selfish man!"

Whup, looks like Maya was puffing her cheeks out again. Her pulling off that action was the usual way Maya expressed her irritation to his face.

Did he really want to tell an already upset Maya that he had just spent the past ten minutes obsessing over a seven-year-old that had lied about his name? Phoenix almost laughed out loud at his own thought. _That was a rhetorical question, brain._

There was no way on Earth that he would ever let Maya know about this if he were to value his ego or pride. The moment Maya knew about what he was suspecting, she'd make fun of and hassle him for the rest of the trip.

" _What the heck, Nick! Do you seriously think that cute little kid lied to us about his name? Shame on you!"_

That was most likely be exactly what she would say to him in response, at least after she laughed for five minutes straight. After that, Maya would shrug it off as if it was no big deal, which was the last thing the uncomfortable lawyer needed to hear. He needed support and reassurance, but unfortunately Maya would only ignore him since there was no way she would consider it a huge deal.

As a result, Phoenix made up his mind not to tell her about Conan. Besides, how would he even be able to convince Maya if he did tell her the truth? _Sorry Maya, but I got creeped out by the tiny seven-year-old kid we met earlier since he had a stare that was almost as scary as when I first met Pearls in Kurain. And also, he most probably lied about his name, background, and who knows what else._

Actually, Phoenix corrected himself — if it ever came to that, Maya might just mouth this off as "another one of Nick's idiot moments" to Apollo and Athena when they got back.

Come to think of it, at least he didn't see the kid around now. He had probably already gone off with his guardian. Oh well, at least that made it easier to brush him off. "Sorry for running off on you, Maya," Phoenix apologized, praying beyond hope to change the topic quickly, "I just needed to catch some fresh air."

Maya huffed, puffing her cheeks out even further. "And you did that by going further within the hotel where it'll be even stuffier? And not out the front doors to the streets that are less than five meters in the opposite direction?"

 _Crap! Wow, she got me, that's actually makes sense! Damn, that excuse would have worked if only I wasn't on the first floor lobby._

"Well… let's just say I needed some time to myself," he feebly protested, trying another lame excuse to try to dissuade Maya from her train of thought.

"Heh!" For a moment it looked as though Maya was going to retort and press the matter again. However, her expression suddenly changed to a smile. "Well, you're not the only one. Trucy and Pearly are off elsewhere too!"

"Oh, that's good to know…" Phoenix muttered in relief at Maya finally letting him off the hook. That was at least until the horror of the new topic that she'd just brought up dawned on him. "W-W-What did you just say?!" he spluttered.

"I said, Trucy and Pearly—"

Phoenix didn't even wait for Maya to finish repeating her sentence before he yelled out loud, attracting the attention of other guests in the lobby. "Maya! Why on Earth would you let them run off unsupervised?" He flung both his hands to his sides, a clearly upset expression on his face.

Shoot! He should have known something was off when the lobby seemed significantly quieter. Trucy was usually very talkative, so the absence of her voice should have tipped him that something was off.

"Nick!" Maya cried out, looking mildly upset by Phoenix's outburst, "The two of them are not kids anymore! They're teenagers now, doing teenager-y things! Plus, they both have cell phones with them! You don't have to worry about them being lost when you can simply give them a call!"

Phoenix had to literally stop himself from crying out in frustration. Did Maya not see the loophole with that? "This isn't our country, Maya. We're currently abroad! There's no coverage because I didn't pay for international calls!"

Maya cheekily grinned. "Nick, why didn't you pay extra for international call coverage?"

"Oh, come on! We don't go overseas often! I wanted to save a buck!" Phoenix cringed at Maya's point. It really was common sense, but he had really wanted to save on cash. "The point is, without international coverage, if they get lost or something happens, there's nothing we can do! I can't contact them!"

"C'mon, Nick! They're both just hanging around the hotel. What's the worst that could possibly happen? All that crazy revolution stuff in Khura'in also happened when we were abroad too, right?"

"Yes…?" Phoenix hesitantly agreed. Being threatened by an insane ruler with a crazy law like the Defence Culpability Act wasn't something the defence attorney was likely to forget anytime soon. "I don't see your point, Maya. You're just giving me an example of why I should be careful! If I recall correctly, you were kidnapped on that trip! So shouldn't we be careful when we're abroad?"

"My point is that we'll have to be supremely unlucky for that sorta stuff to happen again. The stars would have to be aligned wrongly for a terrible trip like that disaster to happen to us twice in a row. That has to be like a one in ten thousand chance!" Maya winked, patting Phoenix on the back in an attempt to get him to calm down. "So how about you relax and chill out, Nick! Just take it easy and have some fun for once in your stiff, boring life!"

Phoenix clenched his eyes shut, trying not to let his imagination run wild. The more Maya tried to reassure him, the more uneasy he felt about this whole situation.

A situation that seemed unnervingly familiar and hit just a little too close to home for the lawyer. Someone in a hotel who had wandered away, a bellboy, a transceiver, and a business transaction.

" _However, there is one thing you can take as fact — right now, your very precious 'item' is with me, in my possession. Remember, you only have one chance. One chance, Mr. Wright…"_

That conversation at the Gatewater Imperial Hotel from ten years ago rang out in his ears as Phoenix lost his cool and waved wildly his arms in panic. "Where are they, Maya? Where are Trucy and Pearly?!"

"I already told you, I don't know, Nick!" Maya looked down at Phoenix's outburst. Her nonchalance only served to make Phoenix even more paranoid.

"Please, Maya! Just listen to me! We have to find them immediately!" He laid a hand on her shoulder. "We can't lose them…"

 _I can't lose either Trucy or Pearly… like how I lost you to that assassin in that hotel on that fateful case. I can't, no… I won't let it happen again!_

* * *

"Oi, oi! Haibara! This is no laughing matter!"

Conan glared at the brunette girl, who just so happened to have an expression of sheer boredom on her face. Honestly, her indifference was grating! When he and Ran had returned to the rest of the group, he hurriedly singled out Haibara Ai in order to talk to her. Alas, once again, she was in no mood to talk.

"Kudo-kun, did you really think that your little kid act would fool everyone forever?" She gave the tiniest flicker of a smile when she saw Conan's irritated expression, "You forget that not everyone on this planet has the attention span of a goldfish," she continued, folding her arms in defiance.

"This is different, Haibara! Most adults I met don't even bother to give a passing glance to a child! It's natural for adults to ignore the opinion of children. I've had to learn that one the hard way!" Flustered, he thrust his arms out, listing examples that he could think of, "Look, I've worked with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police in cases before and not one officer there asks any questions or object to me being at the crime scene. That's because most people trust children to tell the truth! They just assumed I'm an overly curious child who has a knack of being at murder scenes! But this guy, he's different," Conan frowned as he recalled the suspicion he saw in Nick's blue eyes. "He knew something was off from the very moment I said my name. It's like he knew I was lying immediately!"

"So you are under the impression that he knew you were lying about your identity from the very start…" Ai's amusement at seeing Conan in a pickle finally faded as she lowered her voice. "Do you think he knows about you? You think he's part of Them?"

Conan's blue eyes turned icy as he whispered back, "To be honest, I don't think he's part of Them, but that's just my preliminary guess. Kaitou Kid's in their tourist group, so it doesn't make sense. He would have gotten rid of him if he was an Organization member."

With a sigh, Ai gave her verdict. "Kudo-kun, you are an exceptionally stubborn person. Why must you never listen to me whenever I tell you to stay put? And now, as always, your curiosity got you into trouble that could have been easily averted had you just kept away."

"Oh come on, that's not always the case!" Conan retorted, feeling the need to defend himself from Ai's admittedly spot-on accusation. "And trouble comes to me, not the other way around!" he added.

"You're actually right, Kudo-kun. Death always manages to find its way around to you no matter what. Perhaps you should switch your line of work?"

Conan replied in a split second, "Never."

"I thought so…" she replied. "Well, here's my advice. If it really is a random tourist, you don't really have to care. As long as he has no proof, no one's really going to believe him, and the whole group of them will be gone when their visa expires anyway, latest in a month."

"But…"

She raised her arm up to stop Conan before he could say anything more. "I already know what you're going to say. What if they're not actually tourists?"

Conan felt the hair on his arms standing on end as he spat out the question. "If it's Them?"

"Kudo-kun, I'm not an idiot. You think I'm unaware of the significance of this place?" She shut her eyes contemplatively before looking away, "I was almost shot to death on the roof of this very hotel. That's something that you don't forget anytime soon."

"I'm sorry…" Conan started, looking down before gasping when he realized what she had just said. "Wait a minute! So you knew that all this time that the concert would be held here?" He glared at her, "Why didn't you tell me, Haibara?!"

Ai chuckled at the remark. With a wry grin on her face and her hands on her hips, she retorted with some amusement, "From the tone of your voice and the look on your face, I suspect you didn't know that the concert location was the Haido City Hotel until today."

Conan looked away with a grouchy grimace. Seriously, her on-the-point remarks sometimes hit him hard. "But it's as you said! How can you willingly walk back into this place, the ballroom, knowing it was where… that happened…?" He looked away with a guilty expression, unable to finish his sentence. That whole disastrous situation had been entirely his fault.

Back then, he was much more reckless and risky when it came to the Organization. If only he had been more cautious that day, then perhaps Ai wouldn't have been kidnapped. He had been extremely lucky that the situation had ended the way they did. Pisco hadn't had the chance to mention his discovery that the apotoxin managed to succeed at its job—shrinking someone down to the age of an elementary school student—before he had been offed by Gin, which undoubtedly saved Conan and Ai from being tracked down by the rest of the Organization.

"That being said, I do have a bad feeling about this hotel, Kudo-kun." Ai grimaced as she gazed around the hotel lobby, "I'm getting shudders just thinking about this place."

"Then why?!" he asked, puffing his chest out, "Why would you even come back here?!"

"First of all, the others would outnumber me by three to two if I did protest." She gave a smirk when Conan sighed, knowing that she was completely right about that part. The Detective Boys could be extremely stubborn at times. "You know that the two of us can't win a vote of confidence against the rest, right?"

"And why else are you here?" Conan muttered, folding his arms.

"They don't like to return to places they've been before unless it is absolutely necessary," Ai stated bluntly with bored eyes, as though she was stating the obvious. "Returning to places would leave traces of evidence, and as you must already know by now, They don't leave behind even one shred of evidence. Not. One. Loose. End." she emphasized, pausing her last words for effect.

"What does that have to do with anything, Haibara?" Conan gritted his teeth together, exclaiming, "I already know all of that!"

"You are impatient, aren't you Kudo-kun? Just let me finish," Ai replied, holding up her palm. "Keeping their existence secret is their utmost priority, to the point that captured members would rather kill themselves than spill the beans. So in a rather ironic fashion, this hotel is actually one of the safer locations for me to be at. Would you really expect them to return to a place where they conducted an operation? You remembered that Pisco was caught on camera doing the deed, don't you? It was in the papers. It makes no sense for them to ever come back here as it would be an obvious link back to them. That's why despite everything, I think—"

Without warning, Haibara suddenly leaned forward, her face pale.

"Haibara?" Conan stared at the still girl. "What's wrong?"

"I-I sensed something… no, someone. I think I… I n-need to leave!" she muttered with wide eyes.

"Does that mean the Organization is here?!" Conan shouted. No, not now! Not when Ran was here! "Answer me, Haibara!"

Ai breathed heavily, taking out her cell phone. "Most likely, yes actually." Her confirmation only made Conan even jitterier. "I'll call Agasa-hakase and have him take me back in his car." She turned back to Conan, trying to control the panicked expression on her face, "I already know that you're going to ignore me again and go after them, aren't you? Just remember that one of these days your luck will run out, Kudo-kun." Upon finishing, she took a deep breath before rushing out in the direction of the front doors of the hotel, not even sparing a glance back.

Conan watched her go, feeling very nervous himself.

Damn it!

This time, he was completely vulnerable. Usually when he faced off against Them, he had at least some semblance of an action plan to go with for him to be able to stand a chance against the Black Organization.

But this time? Nothing. He had absolutely nothing. His only lead was the mysterious lawyer who knew more than he seemed, but the problem was that Nick seemed to know more than he let on and could very well be goading him into a trap!

Conan lowered his head, deep in thought. _The thing is, Haibara suddenly freaked out, and I know she has a sixth sense for when They are around the vicinity. Which means… They really are here! Since I haven't spotted any other Organization members yet, he's my prime suspect for now._

 _And to be fair, most of the Black Organization members we encountered recently don't actually wear black_ , Conan thought with an ironic grin. _Vermouth, Kir, and Bourbon. I don't think I've really seen them don that black suit that I learnt to associate with Gin and Vodka. Maybe they thought it was too obvious of a dress code?_

Was that lawyer really a Black Organization member? At first glance, he didn't appear to be one, but wasn't that always the case about members?

It was only the fact that Nick reacted to him speaking out his name that tipped Conan off that something was wrong. If the man really was part of Them, how much did he know about the situation? None of the Organization members but one even knew about his identity as Kudo Shinichi.

So why was Nick suspecting him? And while he was at it, why not take him out immediately? After seeing the trigger-happy Gin in action before, Conan had learned that They immediately took out any threats without mercy. Leaving people alive or injured was not in their normal rulebook in the slightest. So why was the man just waiting around then? Conan had looked behind him to check if the lawyer had tailed him, but so far he hadn't even caught a glimpse of him since their meeting in the lobby.

Furthermore, why was he stationed here? Conan had to ascertain the man's motives and find an answer all of these questions before disaster struck.

The problem was that Haibara's explanation made complete sense. It was extremely unusual for them to be at the Haido City Hotel. So why were They here? Why would they risk everything by sending an operative to a place where one of their former members was caught out and killed?

A chill went down Conan's spine when one certain possibility struck out in his mind.

Was it because of him?

Conan had assumed that They were here on another operation like usual, but what if this time their operation was not about other matters, but focused on him?

After all, his prime suspect for an Organization operative, the attorney Nick, had stared at him when he introduced himself with a curious look. Way too curiously in his book. Had they finally put the pieces together and realized that Kudo Shinichi wasn't dead? Was Nick here to confirm that theory? After all, it would explain why they hadn't tried to kill him yet.

Was that why they had dared to show their face? Were they trying to make sure that the drug that Ai had made really had a side-effect of shrinking people, and in doing so, also finally track down the thorn in their side that had been irritating them for so long?

If he was right, this was bad. Very, very bad. Like unbelievably terrible levels of bad.

Just what the hell was their motive?

Biting his lip, Conan made his way back to the Detective Boys, the trio still engrossed in their argumentative debate. Catching a glance of Ran out of the corner of his glasses as he returned, Conan suddenly felt himself seized by panic.

It had completely slipped his mind that this time Ran was in the same location as well! To make matters even worse, there was no making Ran leave the hotel before the entire concert came to a close! He clenched his fists, tempted to swear words that no seven-year-old should know.

He breathed heavily to calm himself and rid his face of all the tension he was feeling, feeling the childish mask he usually wore fall back into place. At the very least he could try to stay away from Ran. That way, in the worst case scenario, at least she wouldn't be dragged into this ugly mess.

"So, did you manage to decide on who you think would win?" Conan asked out loud to announce his presence, although he honestly doubted the Detective Boys even noticed he was gone.

"Yep!" Genta said, hitting Mitsuhiko in the back just a little bit too hard, causing the smaller boy to wince. "I managed to convince Mitsuhiko here that they won't dare let the Kamen Yaiba lose on home ground. We got the home advantage!"

Conan was just about to give a bored retort back when a terrifying voice reached his eardrums.

"Oh my gosh! Ran, what a coincidence!"

His eyes went wide. Oh, lord. Why? Just… why? Please, no. Not her. Not now.

"Sonoko! You're here too?" Ran walked towards the source of the voice, an impressionable girl that appeared to be innocent at first glance, but many years of knowing her as Shinichi meant otherwise for Conan. That daring girl's mischief spelt out T-R-O-U-B-L-E with a capital letter T every single time she showed her face.

He cursed his luck. So far, it appeared that the past ten minutes alone seemed to have started a chain of dominoes that caused his luck to spiral further and further down into oblivion. Kaitou Kid, the Black Organization, his identity in peril yet again, Ran being here in a very vulnerable position, no leads, and now Sonoko? Somewhere out there, there must be a very amused person who had decided in advance that he, Kudo Shinichi, would be the world's most unlucky person.

"So," Sonoko started grinning in a very familiarly unnerving way for those who knew her, "is that baka Shinichi-kun here with you?"

There she went again. In his mind, Conan could hear the words "on a date" added onto the back of her question. He tried his best not to pay too much attention to Sonoko lest she end up saying something very humiliating and cause him to be flustered.

Ran, also sensing the implicit date question Sonoko was baiting her into answering, hurriedly denied it. "No! He isn't here, unfortunately. I'm just here with otou-san and Conan-kun. But what about you?" she asked, turning the question back around. "What are you doing here? This doesn't strike me as something you are interested in, Sonoko."

"To be honest, I'm here with Makoto-san. He's chilling at the reception area right now, but he bought tickets for the live show because he wants to study and observe the moves for the fight scenes."

"Eh, I thought Kyogoku-san practices karate?" Conan spoke up, asking for clarification. "Wouldn't the stunts for the concert be of a fencing nature? That American superhero, the Steel Samurai, has a spear, so wouldn't a kendo specialist like Heiji-niichan be more interested in the fight scenes instead of someone like Kyogoku-san, Sonoko-neechan?" Conan chuckled at the thought of Heiji coming all the way to Tokyo for a concert. It was a funny scenario, even though it wasn't really likely to happen, the Osakan detective was busy enough as it was.

Sonoko stared down at Conan, making the boy squirm slightly. Yeesh, that girl never let up on him. "You're kinda dumb, aren't you? The Stee-whatever his name was might have that sword-sorry, spear, but you're forgetting about his opponent. Our local Kamen Yaiba will be going bare-fisted against him, and that's what Makato-san wants to see!"

Conan raised his eyebrows in slight curiosity. "Wait, so the Kamen Yaiba is unarmed and facing off against someone with a long-reach weapon? That doesn't seem very fair of a fight to me," he bluntly stated. Just what were the writers thinking? The fight between the two would be terribly one-sided if that was the case.

"It doesn't matter if it's fair!" Sonoko folded her arms. "Makato-san just wants to see how a bare-fisted opponent can fight against someone with a weapon! He told me that he wanted to see live proof that people shouldn't underestimate the skills of a master of karate!"

 _I live with Ran…_ Conan gave a tired smile. _I already know not to underestimate a karate master… under a threat of very painful fists._

"Anyway, back on topic!" Sonoko's face turned cheerily bright again, which was a gesture that did not go unnoticed by both Conan and Ran. A cheery Sonoko usually meant that trouble was just a couple of seconds away. "Why don't you invite Shinichi-kun here, Ran?"

Annnnnddd that was his cue to get out of here. Immediately.

"Sonoko!" Ran blushed, also trying to squirm out of the embarrassing conversation. "The tickets are sold out for today's concert. I can't buy tickets for Shinichi even if I wanted to!"

"Don't forget, I'm the Great Sonoko! All I have to do is tell them that I'm connected to the Suzuki residence and I can purchase a VIP pass for you both! I bet I can get it in less than an hour if I talk to the organizer of this event."

"Please, Sonoko!" Ran waved her arms furiously. "There's no need for me to trouble you like this…"

"Never mind about that!" Sonoko stepped forward, hopping in excitement. "What are friends for? It's no trouble for me, honest! You can thank me later by having fun with Shinichi-kun!"

 _I already have a ticket, you know_. Conan couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the very enthusiastic Sonoko wasting effort and money to buy a ticket for a concert that he was already going to attend.

"But he's still on his case!" Ran protested, "Even if you acquired the tickets, he won't be here."

Sonoko ignored Ran, declaring, "Ran, if that mystery otaku cared about you, he'll be here for you in a heartbeat!"

"Sonokoooo!"

Conan slowly backed away from the two girls as they began to debate furiously about a topic that involved him. It wasn't just because of the very private girl-talk conversation that he was unintentionally eavesdropping on. Right now he needed to get away from both her and the Detective Boys as long as They were in the vicinity.

Hopefully, Ran wouldn't notice that he was gone. At least with Sonoko, that would be relatively easy to pull off. That girl would not shut up even if her mouth was taped shut, so with Ran caught into a conversation with her, she wouldn't notice his disappearance for a while.

Keeping himself low by using his short stature, he snuck away from the group and made his way back to where he last saw the lawyer. Darting around the legs of adults as cover, he heard Nick's distinctive voice again after not too long.

"Please, Maya! Just listen to me! We have to find them immediately! We can't lose them…"

 _Bingo! That's him! So he is looking for something!_ Conan craned his head up to try to locate the voice, but the sea of people made it really hard for him to get a visual cue.

"Oh alright, Nick. But you owe me burgers for this!"

 _That was the voice of the woman next to him_ , Conan realized. From what he could recall, Nick addressed her as Maya. He seemed exceptionally close to her. Were the two of them partners?

"Fine! I doubt they went too far, so let's try the stairs and see if they're upstairs! I swear, I'll comb the whole place if I have to!" From the corner of Conan's eye, he saw the two of them run up the stairway to the second floor.

 _Shoot! What are they looking for? That man said that "we have to find them", which made it sound that he's not looking for an object, but rather a person. Actually, it was likely to be more than one person, else he would have used a pronoun._

Wait a moment! The two of them were looking for more than one person?! Conan's eyes widened. No, no, no! Were they looking for him and Haibara? Was his theory right after all?

"Damn it!" he swore out loud. Conan started to tremble in fear. His heart started to race, face turning pale. It couldn't end like this!

He looked down to the carpeted floor, thinking frantically about a remedy to this situation. _If they're after me, then Ran… no, Haibara, the Detective Boys… actually, scratch that, EVERYONE is in danger! If they come after me… hey, wait a minute!_

Conan suddenly jerked his head up in realization. If they were after him, then why didn't they simply capture him when he had gone over to them after he apparently saw Kaitou Kid? Just barely a few minutes ago, he had snuck off due to his curiosity. He was alone then, which meant that it was the perfect opportunity for them. Even if Nick had decided to wait for a better moment, the lawyer could have discreetly followed him when he went back to Haibara and the others and ensured that he and Maya knew where he was.

In other words, they would have no need to scour the hotel for him. Since that was the case, that meant that the people that they were looking for didn't include him.

Conan heaved an audible sigh in relief. If the operation was about finding someone else, then he was in the clear. They mostly likely didn't know his identity, which meant that he was most likely safe… for now at least. Nick was still suspicious, but at least Conan knew that the lawyer didn't know about him for certain.

With a second wind behind him once he realized he wasn't in mortal peril, Conan put his hand to his chin, thinking about a counterattack. If they were looking for somebody, he had to beat them to it.

Conan glanced down at his silver watch, "The time now is 9:14am, and the Neo Olde Tokyo concert starts at 10:45am." He tilted his head, trying to work out the calculations, "The Haido City Hotel has nine floors. Since they are not scanning the lobby, that's eight floors total for them to search. If the two of them want to make the concert, they have about an hour and a half in total." He was almost certain that they would watch the concert. Given that they most likely had tickets, it would be suspicious if they didn't turn up for the concert, considering they could use the guest admission list as an alibi if anything went wrong.

"Eight floors in ninety minutes. If I divide it up, that would give them about ten minutes per floor if they search thoroughly!" Conan declared, smirking cockily to himself. Finally, he could piece together a plan against the two.

Since they took the stairs to the second floor, he knew that they were going from bottom to top. To avoid suspicion, that meant he should head to the top floor first and search for anything suspicious from the ninth floor down. Since he had predicted their timings, he was fairly confident that he wouldn't run into Nick or Maya.

He took off, sprinting to the elevator lobby as fast as he could. Giving the bellboy a nod of acknowledgement, he entered an empty elevator and pressed the button for the ninth floor. As the elevator went up, Conan started to feel apprehensive, unsure of what he would find on the other end.

 _Ding!_

The bell rang, signaling the arrival of the elevator. Conan slowly walked out onto the empty hallway as the elevator doors opened. Glancing around, he found no one in his line of vision. The entire floor was devoid of people in the hallways. Seeing his chance, he reached for the nearest hotel room door and tried to push down on the door handle. Despite his best efforts, it stayed firm, refusing to budge down even an inch.

 _Locked_ , he thought. Looks like both his and Nick's searches would be limited to the corridors as all the rooms to the hotel were locked by the room access card. Still, there was the chance that they had a master key to unlock the doors. He wouldn't put it past Them to do something like that.

Conan crouched down, looking into the small opening between the door and the floor. Unable to see anyone, he concluded that there was nobody in the room. Preparing to stand up and head over to the next room, Conan suddenly froze up as he heard footsteps come up and stop behind him.

"There you are! What are you doing crouching down against the floor like that?"

He instinctively fell down to the ground, backing against the door like a deer caught in headlights. At least, that was until he realized that the voice sounded familiar. "You!" he cried out, looking up and pointing at the newcomer. "Just what are you doing here?!"

Trucy put her left hand on her hip, her other gloved hand holding a black briefcase. "I've been looking for you! Or at least I was going to, but you came to me instead, so thanks!"

"Huh?" Conan tilted his head, frowning in surprise. "You were going to look for me? I don't think that's a good idea for today. Your safety will be compromised if you stay around me today," he glared up in irritation. Couldn't Kid just leave him alone? Now was seriously not the time, at least not when the Organization were around. The thief probably had no idea of the danger he was in by using this disguise. Just what was he thinking, disguising himself as the daughter of a possible Organization member?

"I don't believe you, Conan! You're just saying that because you want me to stay away from you. Well, the great Trucy doesn't give up so easily! You will be my third magic assistant! I believe you can do even better than Polly! He really sucks at magic tricks!"

Conan resisted the urge to glower at Trucy's enthusiasm. Wasn't Kid in a fancy mood today? Why was he even trying so hard to recruit him into a life of crime? As a detective and upholder of justice, that'll only happen over his dead body.

Also, Kid's acting was incredibly on the ball today. Conan scowled. Sure, he might not have the best impression of Kid, but he would hate to see the thief get caught out by the Organization just because he had picked the wrong disguise. They were his fight, not the Phantom Thief's or anyone else's. No one innocent needed to get involved.

"I'm serious, Kid," he said warily, not even bothering with the subterfuge anymore. "I don't know what you're up to, but there is a possibility that if you don't disappear immediately from this place, someone else will make you disappear, and it ain't going to be the police."

"Who are you calling a kid? I'm not a child anymore!" Trucy pouted in response, not comprehending what Conan was warning her about. "Look at you, talking all like you're a grown-up. You act just like Polly, always wanting people to take you seriously." Conan could only groan at the carefree response, starting to feel sorry for whichever assistant this Polly happened to be. "You should really lighten up. You're a kid, so just have fun and enjoy yourself! Life isn't always meant to be a serious affair!"

"For the last time, this is serious!" Conan shouted out in frustration. "This isn't one of our usual games! People can die this time!" he cried out, trying to get her to understand.

Trucy frowned to herself. Honestly, right now little Conan was acting almost like her Daddy when it came to paranoia. She was having none of that. Deciding it was time for a little fun, she smiled predatorily. "Here, catch!" she said, tossing the briefcase in her hand in his direction.

Conan squeaked in terror, hurling himself to his left and into a prone position to avoid the projectile headed at him. His sharp reflexes saved him, as not a second later, the briefcase hit against the door in the area that he was just at a moment earlier. "What do you think you're doing?!" he howled at Trucy as the briefcase clattered to the floor. "That thing could have taken out my eye or something!"

Happy that her stunt managed to get Conan out of his angsty funk, Trucy ignored him as she answered, "A little birdie told me to give this to you! Have fun, you little cutie! I need to go look for Pearls now! See you later!" she waved before hopping down the corridor.

"Hey, come back here!" Conan reached his arm out, too tired to get up and chase after her. "Oh, I'll get you for this!" he called out as she turned around the corner and disappeared from sight. He slowly got up from his sitting position, feeling himself getting a slight headache from everything that had happened.

Just as he was about to resume his search, his eye fell onto the briefcase that had fallen by the door. The dark black briefcase contrasted and stood out against the lighter palette of the hotel surroundings. Drawn towards it, Conan found himself walking towards it and analyzing the slick black leather briefcase.

The case itself was standard, nondescript, with no brand name or label attached. It had nothing identifiable at first glance and was probably untraceable to its purchase location without any proof of purchase.

Deciding it wouldn't hurt, he reached down to pick it up. He was surprised to find that the briefcase was unusually heavy, to the point where he had to use both of his hands to grip the handle just to lift the case. "Gah!" Conan grimaced as he felt himself sweating. His little kid body didn't exactly have very good muscle strength.

"What exactly is in this thing?" he wheezed, placing the case back onto the ground to conserve his energy. Greedily eyeing the combination password dial, he grinned, "Guess it wouldn't hurt to find out." He reached for the metallic unlock catch and pressed it down. To Conan's surprise, the briefcase flung open.

 _The briefcase isn't locked_ , he thought to himself before his eyes widened in surprise at the contents of the case.

 _What the heck is this?! This briefcase is filled to the brim with money!_

In the black briefcase were US currency banknotes in large denominations, all neatly bundled up and stacked together in rows. Even though there was a slight rounded depression in the centre of the notes, Conan estimated that there had to be at least a million dollars stuffed into the case.

He jerked his head back at the direction that Trucy had walked off earlier. What sort of damn game was she playing?! Why had she handed him a briefcase full of money?

And more importantly, where had it come from… and how did she managed to acquire it?

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Since the last two chapters were all introductions, now I've decided to start up a little bit more action and mystery. I've already wrote out the outline for the whole mystery, so I hope it's up to standard!

To absolutely none of the readers' (except poor Conan) surprise, our big bad Black Organization is indeed here. Trouble's brewing!

 **ermmys & iniziodellastella:** Agreed! The whole reason I wrote this in the first place was because no one else did… which was surprising to say the least.

 **D:** Thanks for the detailed review. I admit, I never actually thought that Conan will believe the Magatama's power. After all, it's paranormal and defies common sense or logic. :P

 **Guest (Oct 26):** I could, but I think you'll find that it's harder for Conan to do that compared to usual, because reasons.


	4. The Jet-Black Briefcase

**Chapter 4: The Jet-Black Briefcase**

"Nickkkkkkkkkkkk!" Maya whined, stretching out the last syllable for as long as possible to express her frustration to her partner, "You're a mess! Don't you exercise at all?"

Phoenix didn't have the strength to answer her question. He continued to pant in agony at the torture that he had just been subjected to.

"Nick, it was just a couple flights of stairs," she continued when she saw Phoenix's state of exhaustion. "Look at yourself! You're almost crawling on the floor. You'll dirty your suit at this rate! Don't act like you just ran a marathon."

"Says you," he shot back, annoyed. "Try running up and down the stairs over and over again and see if you don't feel like dead weight after."

" _You_ were the one who was running about all the time. Maybe if you had paced yourself better, you wouldn't be panting like a dog right now."

Irritated, Phoenix gave Maya one of his 'cut it out' looks. "Well, excuse me, but I was trying to find—" he cut himself off when he laid eyes on the very person he was trying to locate.

Humming while skipping down the stairs was his daughter, Trucy!

"Trucy! Over here!" Phoenix called out, grabbing her attention. He couldn't keep the look of relief off of his face, thanking his lucky stars that nothing had happened after all.

"Daddy! What's wrong?" she asked upon seeing her adoptive father's very worried gaze.

Phoenix ignored her query, pulling her into a hug, "Don't worry me like that ever again!"

Trucy broke away from the embrace, brushing her cape to smoothen any creases. "Daddy, I'm old now! You don't need to carry on doting on me like I'm still a child!"

Phoenix beamed at his feisty daughter, before sighing at her stubbornness. "By the way, where's Pearls?"

"Pearls? When I was walking up, she saw someone she knew and went over to talk to them." She put her finger to her lip, pondering, "I think she's still with them. I don't really know, to be honest."

 _Someone Pearls knows? Here, halfway across the world?_ Phoenix racked his head trying to think of anyone who fit those criteria. _Who could it be? That's such a coincidence, them meeting in a place like this._

Just then, Phoenix heard a suppressed giggle. _Uh oh_ , he thought, _that was Maya. Game over, man. It's coming…_

"See, Nick! Someone else who knows Pearly is here, in Japan! I told you that this concert was a huge deal!" Maya was practically jumping up and down, feeling vindicated after being armed with this new knowledge. "Why else would they travel to Beika City, all the way in the middle of a foreign country? To watch the epicness that is a live-action Steel Samurai concert, of course!"

 _I knew it. I knew she'd bring it up. The day Maya stops gushing about the Steel Samurai is the day the world stops turning. I seriously think she's more interested in it compared to her Kurain Master duties sometimes._

"I get it, Maya." His face remained blank and guarded as he continued, "You just want me to feel embarrassed for somewhat liking the show, don't you?"

"Come on! Don't be shy! It's alright to like the Steel Samurai!" Maya cheered with glee.

"Yeah, Daddy! You have loads of DVDs for the movies!" Trucy grinned while tipping her hat, adding fuel to the ever-raging fire.

Phoenix slapped his forehead in exasperation. "Alright, fine. I admit that it's not the worst thing in existence and decently okay as a show. Now let's change the topic, please." At least this way the conversation won't head down a disastrous route. "Can we please find Pearls, perhaps?" he asked.

"Don't worry, Nick!" Maya winked. "I know my Pearly. She's well-behaved, so she'll follow instructions. I bet she can't be that hard to find."

 _Yeah, she's so well-behaved to the point where sometimes I wonder who's the older one between the two of you._ After rolling his eyes, he resigned that Maya was at least right about the mild-mannered Pearl being easier to locate than a reckless Trucy. "Trucy, which floor did you see Pearls last?"

"8th floor," Trucy started, before she took out her phone from her pocket and bluntly stated, "But I could just call Pearls to ask she is now, y'know."

"What?!" Phoenix yelled, flustered. "You can c-call Pearls…?" he said slowly with wariness in his voice.

"Daddy, my phone's on roaming. Of course I can contact her!" She looked at her father with a concerned look. "What's wrong? You look faint."

Phoenix decided that it was for the best that he not tell her that the reason he was so panicked earlier was that because _his_ phone couldn't make any calls. "N-Never mind, you call Pearls." _After this, I'm gonna get myself a new SIM card for coverage to save myself from heart attacks!_

Shrugging, Trucy entered the number and put the phone to her ear. "Hi, Pearls! Um-hm, oh, okay! Thanks, bye!" Ending the call, she started to hop up the stairs excitedly. "Well, looks like I was right. 8th floor it is! See ya there, Daddy!" she yelled.

Phoenix rose his hand up before Maya could get a word in. "I'm taking the elevator." He wasn't running up and down the stairs again.

"You lazy bum, Nick!" Maya frowned as Phoenix entered an open elevator and pressed the button for the 8th floor. In response, Phoenix simply smirked and jabbed down the "door close" button, shutting the elevator door on a cross Maya.

"Nickkkkkk! You traitor!"

Phoenix couldn't help but snort in amusement at hearing Maya's shrill voice from behind the doors before the elevator made its ascension up the shaft.

Payback was a little sweet sometimes.

* * *

Over a million dollars of cash in a foreign currency, stuffed into an unlocked briefcase? Yeah, this would scream "suspicious" even if he had happened to be an actual seven-year-old.

Conan continued to stare impassively at the contents of the briefcase. Recomposing himself, he hurriedly darted his eyes around to make sure that no one was in the vicinity before trying to gather his muddled thoughts. He needed to make some sense of the predicament that he had been thrust into thanks to that mischievous magician.

"Heh… is it bad that I've seen weirder things than this happen to me over this past year?" he asked himself with a snarky expression as he examined the briefcase. "The fact that I'm getting used to stuff like this happening to me all the time is… very unsettling. Definitely very unsettling."

At least now he was able to rule out a couple of things. Namely a certain white-caped magician's presence, for starters. Kaitou Kid never, ever went for petty cash. He was a phantom thief with style and legions of adoring fans, which was probably the reason that he only ended up stealing the most extraneous of gems in the most fabulous of ways. Something like a briefcase full of money? Only old-fashioned robbers would go for it.

Not to mention, Nakamori-keibu was significantly absent this time. Ever since Conan first found out about Kid, at every heist he attended after, Nakamori would be there. The green-suited inspector was a Kid fanatic and would always attend every heist without fail. Nakamori was probably the only one even nuttier about arresting Kid than him, besides maybe Advisor Jirokichi.

Furthermore, Trucy hadn't even reacted when he tried to out his identity earlier. Well, to be fair, she hadn't reacted in the way he expected. Her move was to throw the freaking briefcase at him and continue to act as though nothing had happened. While throwing the briefcase into his face was in-character for Kid, not shredding the disguise for an obligatory taunt afterwards was most definitely not.

Normally, when he revealed to Kid that he was in the know, the thief would toss away his disguise. It most likely out of honor… or because that damn thief had an incessant need to taunt his favorite "Tantei-kun", and he couldn't very well do that while he was in disguise.

From the start, things this time were unusually different from the norm. Was Trucy really not Kid after all? He frowned. It looked as though it really was a coincidence — they really were two different people after all. Maybe he was a little too hasty in assuming they were one and the same.

Conan shook his head with a small sigh. Just what the world needed… another person who had a similar attitude to the cocky thief. He made a mental note in his head to never ever let the two magicians meet if possible, for the sake of preserving his sanity.

Getting that mental possibility of disaster out of his mind as quick as possible, he focused his attention towards the cash in the briefcase. He put his hand on his chin, boring his eyes at the money as though they were the answer to the week's reality show quiz.

Something seemed off about the whole concept to him. Why was the money here? Forgery? Not likely, the money appeared to be real at first glance and nothing about the notes screamed counterfeit. Blackmail? If it was blackmail, then Trucy wouldn't have the briefcase unless something went terribly wrong, and for things to go that wrong and not get covered up when it came to the Organization was unheard of. They were never that careless.

And lastly, if Trucy wasn't Kaitou Kid in disguise, that would mean that she was most likely Nick's actual daughter… which he simply could not visualize as an option. The Black Organization always put their mission over family. That was the whole reason Ai had defected from them in the first place — they had ruthlessly killed her sister without mercy. That was enough proof to him that there was no way that someone like Nick would bring his legitimate daughter over to a place like this if he was an agent. It was simply an unacceptable risk.

And that right there, was a contradiction. The only course of logic from here is to assume that Nick most likely wasn't with the Black Organization. But he had a few problems with that hypothesis as well. For one, Haibara had all but confirmed that They were here, and Nick suits the bill as an agent at first glance thanks to his suspicious behaviour. Not only that, but if they were indeed a normal family, then why was he suspicious of him from the very start? No one were usually immediately suspicious of his identity—despite the fact that the whole charade was pretty obvious if one paid very close attention—so the fact that he was on to him in a single conversation bugged Conan to a certain extent.

Had they met somewhere before, when he was still Kudo Shinichi? Was that why Nick was wearing the blue suit that used to be his standard go-to attire? As some kind of a warning message?

Conan heaved a sigh, shaking his head. He was definitely thinking about this too hard. He needed more clues before he could conclude about Nick's allegiances. Regardless of whether that guy was part of the Black Organization or not, he had to find out more about why Nick was so suspicious about his identity.

Not to even mention the whole deal about the briefcase…

He was almost 99% sure that the briefcase was not originally owned by Trucy. He hadn't seen her with the case when they first met at the hotel lobby, and the very fact that she gave him the briefcase—albeit in an annoying manner—implied that she wasn't interested in it.

So then, the obvious question was how someone like Trucy got ahold of a briefcase that was filled with money. Was it related to Nick? He couldn't discount their relationship as father and daughter at the moment.

Whoever had the case before had unlocked it and purposefully left it unlocked. But if that was so, then Trucy should have seen the money inside. Why didn't she call the police? Any sane person would either have called the authorities, or if they were greedy, make off with the money like they had struck the lottery. Twice in a row.

There was also the matter of how the case came to be unlocked in the first place. Conan jerked his head up as a sudden thought hit him. Since Trucy didn't seem surprised by the contents, did she perhaps pick the lock? She was a magician, and lock-picking was a skill that some magicians used for their tricks.

Conan knelt down on one knee, peering closely at the metallic area of the lock. He grimaced as he found no scratches or obvious signs of forced entry. Without any signs of forced entry, that posed a problem to his lock-picking idea.

Not only that, but he remembered that the case had swung open automatically when he had pushed down on the unlock catch earlier. Since it opened and wasn't locked, it meant that when the briefcase was last closed, the password itself hadn't been scrambled to prevent any unauthorized access.

There were four separate rotors on the briefcase password dial, each numbered with the digits 0 to 9, which made for 10,000 possible combinations in total. It would have taken a person an absolute eternity to crack the password via brute force, unless he or she guessed correctly by some miracle, or more likely, by deducing and analyzing number patterns if they knew the behavioral patterns of the original owner of the case.

Conan smiled, remembering the time where Ran had tried to unlock his phone in the same way. Trial-and-error still took way too long though, so until he had definite proof, he just filed this line of thought away and focused on the most important matter at hand.

What was the money doing in a place like this in the first place? He had an idea, but man, was it leading down a path he didn't want to go down. The color of the briefcase suddenly gave Conan a very uneasy feeling. An inky cold, harsh black, just like the same color of the Organization that he was chasing after.

There was one clear moment where he had seen a black briefcase full of money that he would never forget — when he had caught Vodka blackmailing the man back in Tropical Land.

How could he ever forget that? The whole reason he was turned into a kid in the first place was because he had tried to record that secret deal and hadn't noticed Gin behind him.

It wasn't the last time the he had seen the Organization with briefcases. Every other time he'd seen briefcases related to Them after that had resulted in massive explosions. That wasn't even an exaggeration. The bullet train, the accidental briefcase swap at Mantendo… seriously, those guys loved their money deals to go out with fireworks.

To put it bluntly, the whole damn thing just smelt of trouble. It didn't even seem like Organization fare, even though Haibara swore that They were here. Even he couldn't be sure if this really was the Organization in action. But it wouldn't hurt to take a chance. Because if this really was Their work…

Conan smirked predatorily at the thought. If it was Them, then he was going to enjoy taking another shot at the ones who'd ruined his life. Now that Ran and Haibara were in a much safer position since someone who had suspicions about his identity didn't appear to be with the Organization, he could go after them with everything he had.

He slipped in one of his transmitters in between a wad of cash, where it was unlikely to be found, before flipping the lid of the case shut again. He glanced down to remember the password combination of the case just in case. The password dial read "2-0-1-0". _Interesting combination_ , Conan thought. _I wonder if it means anything._

He decided against scrambling the code, leaving it as it was to avoid raising any suspicions. Gripping the handle, he strained his arms to lift the case back to the elevator. "Gah!" he complained as he waited for the elevator to return to the ninth floor. "This thing is really heavy!"

At the very least, he didn't need to wait long. One of the elevator cars had conveniently stopped on the eighth floor, so it only took a few seconds to arrive. As Conan lugged the stupidly heavy case into the elevator and waited for it to descend to the first floor, he reassessed the plan that he had just come up with.

All he had to do was to take the case back to the hotel reception desk at the lobby and see who picked it up. With a lost-and-found report being made, surely the original owner of the case would try to get it back. And when they did, the transmitter and receiver, along with his Tracking Glasses, would lead to some invaluable data of the original owner of the cash. A simple trap, but it worked. He highly doubted that the transmitter would be discovered in its hiding position, wedged in between a wad of cash, out of sight.

 _Ding!_

As the elevator doors opened, Conan walked briskly in the direction of the main lobby. The moment he reached the receptionist and handed the briefcase over, he would be home free, out of danger!

He was however, unaware that he was being watched, until it was too late…

"Hey! Halt right there!" Conan felt his free hand firmly pulled back with a grab. Startled, his leg slipped and he fell to the carpeted floor, the briefcase in his other hand following suit.

"Where the hell did you get that briefcase?!"

Conan gasped, his mouth open in shock. Crap! He had been caught out! He struggled, trying to see if he could squirm enough to break free of the grip and use the anesthetic needle in his watch to get away from his captor.

Alas, it was to no avail. The man's arms were planted firmly on him and he didn't have the strength to break out of his vice-like grip.

He cursed and tried to think of a backup plan. The Ball Dispensing Belt? No, that wouldn't work either. He would need to turn around at his captor to get a good shot, which wasn't possible with his dominant hand being held down. Worse still, in such an open lobby, he couldn't kick the soccer ball to a wall and deflect it back with a tricky shot. The angles needed for such a ricochet were impossible.

That left just one option. Thankfully, being a kid at the moment, this one wasn't out of character for him at all.

"Help!" he yelled out in the most panicked voice he could muster. "Someone-mmph!" His screams for help were cut off when his assailant muffled his mouth with a gloved hand.

"Pipe down, boy! Shut your damn mouth!" As a flailing Conan was thinking of a way to get out of this sticky situation, the man continued speaking with a deep voice. "Listen up, kid. You're under arrest. The police have been hunting for you for quite some time."

 _Huh?_ Conan's face fell in confusion. _The police? They… what?_ His face then grew irritated as he realized what appeared to be the situation. _Oi, oi. Don't tell me they confused me with someone else. That's impossible, right? I doubt there are many children who are criminals and look like me at the same time._

"Officer, arrest this child at once!" the man barked, signaling a nearby police officer on standby. "He's got the briefcase! That boy's the culprit behind the theft!"

 _He's a officer?!_ Conan glanced towards the approaching officer with mild concern. _I thought that guy in blue was a hotel security guard!_

 _Wait… theft case?_ His eyes widened as he finally understood why the man was acting the way he was. The man who was holding him down must be the owner of the case. _But that meant… it was nothing more than a simple theft case!_

Of course, it was obvious in retrospect. The reason there was so much money was because it had been stolen, and to top it off, this definitely had nothing to do with the Organization. There was no way They would report a theft to the police. Such a screwup would never see the light of day.

But the briefcase being stolen property led to a brand new problem for him.

 _Damn it! Since I'm the one in possession of the briefcase, that makes me the prime suspect!_ Conan grit his teeth as he tried to formulate words to protest his innocence. But what could he really say? ' _Sorry, officer! I randomly found this briefcase on the ground!_ ' Haha, that was a good one. He'd be thrown to the detention center.

As the police officer continued to approach him, Conan realized he was out of options. "Alright," he said out loud to the officer, "I will come with you willingly." There wasn't really much else he could really do anyway that wouldn't result in him ending up in serious trouble.

 _I don't believe this_ , Conan rolled his eyes. _I'm actually getting arrested. I never thought this day will actually come. Has the world gone mad?_ He chided himself for his own recklessness.

He brought his hands up to his front, watching as the officer looked at him quizzically. After a few seconds of nothing happening, he got annoyed and began to prod the officer. "Oi! Aren't you going to handcuff me or something?" he frowned with a look that would probably look out of place on a child. "At least follow proper protocol if you're going to go all the way! Cuff me already!"

The officer stared at him as though he was mad before hesitantly bringing out a pair of handcuffs and slapping them on his wrists.

Conan couldn't help but flinch at feeling the cold metal on his wrists. Was this what a criminal felt like after he'd discovered all their tricks and led justice to them? Well if so, it looked like the joke was on him now. He swore that his hands could possibly slip through the cuffs if they were just a teeny bit smaller. Ah, the universe was taunting him again.

It'd definitely hurt his pride a lot to end up feeling like a criminal, but he had no other way to prove his innocence besides turning himself in and sorting the matter out with the police. With the angle his hands were in, in the worst case scenario he could still reach for his watch or his glasses since he had offered his hands towards the front instead of them being forced behind his back against his will. It certainly paid to be cautious. He had to let the officer cuff him this way to avoid the other scenario.

"Ha! The kid's turned himself in?"

There came that menacing voice again. Ever since he had been handcuffed by the officer, the one who had caught him earlier let go of him as there was no chance for him to escape now. Without the grip on his arm, Conan could finally turn around to see his captor from earlier.

He was very unamused to realize that he recognized him. After all, he'd just seen him on TV.

When his brain finally started to work again, he finally managed to stutter out words in a stunned voice, "You're… the Kamen Yaiba?" He couldn't even process what he had just said.

The man immediately stood firm, changing his tone to act in character upon being recognized. "Yes! I'm the warrior of justic—hey, wait a minute!" The costumed Kamen Yaiba broke character, tone turning low as he turned to the officer, "Make sure he can't get away."

"But, I don't think he can escape in cuffs. Plus, h-he's just a kid…" Conan looked to his left to see the officer meekly respond.

"Don't let go of him! I'm taking back the money!" He opened the briefcase, only to freeze in shock. "Take him away," he muttered, shutting the briefcase.

"B-but!" The officer tried to fight against doing something against his conscience, but he kept quiet when the costumed Kamen Yaiba shouted in anger.

"NOW! Take him to Megure-keibu now!"

 _Megure?_ Conan's face grew curious as he recognized the name. _Why would Megure-keibu be in charge of a theft case? Isn't he in the 1st Division?_

Oh well. He smirked at his good fortune of Megure-keibu being here on a non-homicide case. He could basically relax now. He knew Megure and the officers under him well enough to know that he wouldn't be in this situation for too long if they were here. In fact, while he was at it, he might as well put on his best childlike face and guilt them the whole time they put him in custody.

"Alright… but I'm taking the briefcase," the officer told the costumed man. "You'll have to come with me and follow the boy when I report to Megure-keibu."

"Fine! Let's just go already! Make sure that boy gets his just desserts!"

Conan resisted rolling his eyes at the angry man. He didn't have the heart to tell him that he would most likely get off without a charge since he knew Megure quite personally.

As he was being led away, one extra thought that concurrently flashed across his mind caused him to scowl.

 _That magician girl Trucy is quickly becoming as much of a nuisance as the actual Kaitou Kid!_

Which of course, naturally led to another thought that made him chuckle.

 _I wonder if I can kick a soccer ball at her as payback for that briefcase stunt she pulled earlier, just like I would do to that "other" annoying magician…_

Not knowing about the scenario Conan was painting in his mind, many hotel patrons were confused as to why the Kamen Yaiba and a police officer were leading a boy in handcuffs with a very, very sinister grin on his face across the lobby.

That definitely wasn't on the concert schedule.

* * *

As the elevator doors opened on the eighth floor, Phoenix immediately heard Pearl's distinctive voice. "Mr. Nick! There you are!" Pearl waved cheerily, walking towards Phoenix. "Where's Mystic Maya?"

"She's taking the stairs," Phoenix answered with a broad smile. _Either that or she's taking the next lift after I shut the doors on her._

"Daddy!" Trucy shouted as she literally jumped up the last flight of stairs up to the eighth floor. "You're a cheater! You should have taken the stairs so I could race you fairly!"

"No thanks," Phoenix replied with a soft smile at his daughter. "I'll lose that for sure."

"Niiicccckkkkkk!"

Whup, it was only a matter of time. Here came the cavalry, in the form of spirit medium Maya, who practically ran so fast that she wiped around the turn on the last flight of stairs. The moment she was within visual range, she rounded onto Phoenix. "You left me behind!" she whined. "How could you, Nick!"

Before he could reply, a booming voice came from around the corner, "Now that's a voice I haven't heard in a while." The person who spoke turned around the corner and Phoenix saw a man dressed in a flashy orange tuxedo, smiling like he was on the moon. "It's been a long time since we've met in person, Mr. Wright."

 _Will Powers! So that's who Pearls recognized. She knew him because she met him in person at the Gatewater Hotel, from that case._

"Mr. Powers?!" Phoenix managed to greet the man after he got over his surprise, reaching out to give a handshake. "Is that you?"

"What a surprise to see you all here!" Powers took Phoenix's hand and shook it firmly. "Ah, I should have known that you and Maya would have been here. After all, you two are always with Pearl." The man then relaxed his handshake and gave a warm smile to the group around him. "Needless to say, it's been a while! I'm glad to see you too, Mr. Wright."

"Daddy?" Trucy looked at Powers with a confused expression. She wasn't quite sure how to react to him. "You know this guy?"

"Yep! The man over here is Will Powers," Phoenix answered his daughter with a nostalgic smile. "He was the original actor of the Steel Samurai, and a client on a very old case of mine." He remembered that case fondly. It was his first case together with Maya and held quite a few fond memories to him.

"Oh?" Powers peered towards Trucy, "And who's this lady over here? I recognize Maya and Pearls, but…"

"Trucy," Phoenix helpfully supplied. "She's my daughter, Trucy Wright."

"Huh, really?" Powers looked mildly uncomfortable. "She looks really old to be—"

"She's adopted." Geez, every time he mentioned to others that Trucy was his daughter, he'd have to add that statement or else he got weird looks.

"But enough about that!" Maya butted into the conversation—quite literally—by squeezing towards Powers. "How've you been, Mr. Powers? It's been forever!"

"Yeah," Phoenix agreed, before he sprouted another nagging question, "And what are you doing here of all places, Mr. Powers?"

"You haven't heard?" Powers snapped his fingers before grinning. "I was promoted to be the assistant director of the Steel Samurai show awhile back thanks to my role as the original actor."

"Really?!" Maya exclaimed, covering her mouth in shock. "I didn't know that! That's amazing!"

Phoenix narrowed his eyelids at Maya's reaction. _I thought you were the massive Steel Samurai fangirl. How could you not know?_

Pearl smiled upon seeing her cousin happy. "Looks like you managed to achieve your dream after all, Mr. Powers!"

"You're right there. The Steel Samurai has grown to be a massive franchise, after all! It's probably more famous than it ever was back in my heyday," Powers said.

"People are nostalgic for the old seasons," Phoenix commented. "I guess that's why the opening day of this concert has such a huge reaction. Did you see the crowd at the lobby?"

Powers laughed. "Oh, that's not the only reason that there are so many people around. Surely you've noticed that this live concert also happens to be a crossover with one of the local Japanese action shows."

"Wait, this is a crossover musical?" Phoenix turned towards Maya. "I heard no such thing!"

"Well, apparently they're crossing the Steel Samurai over with this new random Japanese series, Kamen Ya-whoever knows what." She blabbered the last part when she realized she didn't know the name of the second show.

"Again with the crossovers?" Phoenix moaned. "Didn't they already do that with the Pink Princess?"

"Oh, this is different. The Pink Princess was also written by Sal, you forgetful dummy!" Maya pouted with an annoyed expression that said 'why aren't you a bigger Steel Samurai fan'. "Since both shows were produced by Global Studios and written by the same person, they eventually combined the canon of both shows together and had the Pink Princess cameo in the Steel Samurai, and vice versa."

"Why would they even do that?" Phoenix directed his question at Powers instead of Maya to save himself from hearing a pointless response. "Was it even established that both shows take place in the same world?"

"Nope, not officially… but the fans combined the canon of the shows anyway," Powers confessed.

Surely Powers wasn't being serious? "Really?" Phoenix blurted out.

"Well, the draft ideas for them both are similar enough anyway. Besides, everyone loves those crossover episodes!" Powers pumped his fist with vigor. "They score us high ratings! Fans love 'em, networks love 'em, and they net us good reviews! What more can you ask for?"

"I guess that makes sense," Pearl nodded her head. "So what's the show that Steel Samurai is being crossovered with?"

"Kamen Yaiba," Powers reached into his pocket and showed a promotional poster for the show. "It's a local Japanese show that's very similar to the Steel Samurai," he elaborated.

 _Similar to the Steel Samurai?_ Phoenix bit his lip as he peered at the masked superhero on the poster, trying his best not to giggle. _This guy looks like the Jammin' Ninja! How is that supposed to be similar?_

 _Briiinnggg!_

"Excuse me for a moment," Powers reached into his suit pocket to take out his vibrating phone. "I need to pick up this call." He put the phone to his ear and began to speak. From his position, Phoenix could hear Powers' end of the conversation.

"What? You found it?! Well, uh… that's great news, Inspector Megure. I'll be right over."

He hung up the call and walked towards the elevator lobby. "I gotta say, it looks like the police of this country is pretty competent. I'm sorry, but I'll need to take my leave, Mr. Wright."

"Wait! You can't just leave me on a cliffhanger!" Phoenix ran to intercept Powers, blocking him from entering the elevator. "What happened? Why are you involved with the police again?!"

"Oh, don't worry, Mr. Wright," Powers reassured the nervous lawyer. "It's nothing quite as serious as what you normally deal with. You don't need to concern yourself over it."

Phoenix gave a deadpan stare back at Powers. "I would think that you aren't exactly in the best position to make a statement like that. Maya, Pearls, Trucy, come on!" he gestured towards the others, who collectively nodded.

As the group approached, Powers began to look apprehensive. "I'm guessing I can't change your mind, can I, Mr. Wright?"

Phoenix folded his arms with a grin. "You should know how stubborn I am, Mr. Powers."

"Ah, well! It can't hurt." Powers relaxed, giving in. "Come along," he said, closing the elevator doors after the group followed him in.

"So, what's this about?" Pearl asked Powers, who appeared to be tapping his foot nervously.

"It's pretty serious," Powers replied, keeping his face neutral, although his stiff posture betrayed his worriedness. "I'm sure the inspector in charge can inform you about what's going on."

"Sounds like trouble to me," Trucy pondered. "Are you in any trouble?"

"Not really, I mean, not exactly…" Powers trailed off, walking out to the ground floor lobby as the elevator arrived at its destination. "But the studio won't be happy if I don't settle this."

"They won't be happy if you won't settle this?" Phoenix furrowed his brow.

"There's no need to worry though, the situation had just been settled. All I need to do is meet the inspector to finish up." Powers' frown was replaced with a smile as he caught sight of someone. "Inspector Megure! Over here! It's me, Will Powers!" he shouted, raising his arm up.

"Inspector Megure?" Phoenix repeated the name before he saw the person in question.

From one glance, Megure looked like one of the police officers that were often seen in the stereotypical police dramas that were broadcast on TV. Brown overcoat, brown shoes, a bowler hat, bushy mustache… for crying out loud, even his stoic face screamed 'police' to Phoenix.

"Huh," Powers raised his hand down upon seeing that Megure wasn't responding. "It appears he's busy talking to… hey, wait a minute! That's the Tohto Studios employee on set!"

Phoenix double-taked upon seeing the costumed man closely. _He's dressed like the guy I saw on the promotional poster, the Kamen Yaiba. So he's the actor for the concert?_

"We can close this case once and for all, Megure-keibu!" the actor in the costume muttered with distaste. Despite being in costume, Phoenix could almost feel the glare behind his mask. "It's obvious that the kid was the one responsible! Why are you even defending him?"

"Now, there. Please calm yourself." Megure held up his arms to keep order. "I know him quite well, and stealing is something that I highly doubt he is capable of."

"If you're not going to prosecute the little brat, then at least give me back the briefcase!"

"You can't do that," Megure stayed firm, not backing an inch. "Forensics are still dusting for prints."

"There's no time for that!" the man basically all but snatched a black briefcase from the forensics officer. "I'm taking this back to the studio!" he called back as he stormed away.

Megure sighed upon witnessing his departure. "What an unpleasant man."

As that was happening, Phoenix snapped his fingers to grab Powers' attention. "Psst, that guy was the Kamen Yaiba right? This means that you have something to do with this. You better explain yourself."

Powers finally relented. "Yesterday night, a briefcase containing three million US dollars was stolen from the possession of Global Studios."

"T-T-Three million dollars!" Phoenix yelled out at hearing the number. That was an unbelievable amount of money. He had never even seen that kind of money in his entire lawyer career — although that was namely because he often had to go pro bono for them… and also because Maya often spent whatever little he had left, especially when she was his assistant in the past.

Powers nodded his head grimly. "That's a big sum of money. Naturally, we informed the police. Here in this hotel, there are security cameras all over the ground floor lobby. It captures anyone who leaves and enters the hotel. Since the money was stored in a black briefcase…"

Trucy suddenly twitched with a weird expression, but before Phoenix could even tap into his paternal instincts and react, she smiled like nothing had happened.

Phoenix eyed her carefully. _What could have prompted that, I wonder…_

 _Not to mention, a black briefcase… that seems familiar somehow._

Powers didn't notice Trucy or Phoenix's reactions to his speech, so he carried on without a pause, "…we concluded that we had to focus on anyone leaving the hotel with it. They've been monitoring the footage ever since the theft was reported. Since no suspicious personnel left the hotel with such a briefcase, we deduced that the case containing the money is still in the hotel. They've continued to scour the hotel since yesterday, searching high and low for anyone who was carrying a briefcase like that."

It suddenly clicked for Phoenix after Powers finished elaborating. "Wait! Wasn't that actor from earlier holding the briefcase?" He looked at Powers with a puzzled expression. "I thought you said it was stolen?"

"That's why I told you the situation has been settled, Mr. Wright. The inspector called me to say that it was recovered. More specifically, the stolen money was in the briefcase that you saw my concert colleague took away earlier."

"Powers-san."

Powers turned around and beamed. "Inspector! Thank you so much for recovering our stolen money!"

Megure nodded in response before turning to Phoenix. "Ah, so you are Powers-san's good friend. He has told me about you," he said with the stiffest smile Phoenix had seen, if it can even be called one. _The man must never smile_ , Phoenix thought. "I'm Inspector Megure from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Wright-san." The police inspector reached his left hand out for a handshake before he suddenly withdrew his hand.

"What's wrong, Inspector?" Phoenix asked, surprised by Megure's action.

"No, it's nothing…" Megure made a dismissive gesture with his arm. "It's just your blue suit in particular. You just happen to remind me of someone I know who helped me with police investigations a lot in the past."

"Well, I kinda do help with police investigations quite a fair bit. Maybe it's just a coincidence."

"Really? You like investigations too, mister?"

Phoenix almost felt his eyes bulging out when he heard the newcomer to the conversation.

That voice.

As if he'll ever forget that high-pitched tone, piqued with curiosity. Phoenix jerked his head around, and sure enough…

 _It's him again! That boy… Edogawa Conan!_

"Pssst!" Maya whispered as she tapped Phoenix on the shoulder to grab his attention. "Isn't that the kid who we met earlier on?"

"Edogawa Conan," Phoenix mumbled back a response, "It's definitely him all right." He had not expected to see the boy again so soon, and most definitely not like this.

Noticing the handcuffs on the boy, his eyes widened. Why the heck was Conan in police custody?

"Hey you! Officer!" Megure clucked his tongue at the police officer that had brought Conan over to the group. It looked like he wasn't the only one curious as to why a goddamned kid was in custody. "Was it really necessary for you to handcuff him? Conan-kun's just a child! Let him out at once!" he ordered.

"Megure-keibu! Believe me, it wasn't my idea." the policeman tried to defend himself as he took out the keys and unlocked Conan's handcuffs.

Conan rubbed his wrists, clearly uncomfortable from the short time his hands were in cuffs. The boy was so dazed that he didn't realize that he could move freely for a while, and when he began to move, he did it apprehensively, constantly eyeing Phoenix.

"Mr. Wright… are you related to this kid?" Powers questioned, pointing at a clearly annoyed Conan. Clearly he had noticed that Conan kept staring at Phoenix.

"Do we really look alike?" Phoenix grumbled. "With the exception of that suit—" he said, pointing at Conan's blue tux, "—we don't look the slightest bit alike at all!"

Conan gave him an almost imperceptible nod in agreement. Phoenix couldn't help but grin at the boy's approval. _See, even he agrees with me, Maya!_

"Maybe if you were about twenty to thirty years younger, you might!" Maya commented. For some reason that Phoenix couldn't fathom, Conan had cringed at that statement. Was it that unfunny? "Look, even his hair is spiky like yours," she added as she looked closely at Conan.

"Huh?" Phoenix looked closely at Conan's hair to try to see what Maya was talking about and noticed that the boy had a distinctive clump of hair protruding out around the back of his head. "That's a cowlick," he muttered to Maya, "It's practically nothing compared to my spiky hair."

"Maybe his hair is specially cut and held up with hair gel, just like yours," Maya teased, hands on her hips.

Phoenix snorted. "Maya, for the last time, this hairstyle is natural!" He patted his pointy hair to get his point across to Maya's stubborn face, "See! Does this look gelled to you? Also, I'm certain that I mentioned this to you before!"

"But I still don't really believe that, Nick," Maya said with a mischievous grin, hoping to get a rile out of him. "That's like saying Pearly's hairstyle is natural."

"You mean it's not?" Phoenix turned around to Pearl, gazing carefully at her pretzel-shaped hair pinned to the back of her brown hair. "It looks natural to me…"

"Actually, it is natural," Pearl clarified, "My mother was the one who pinned my hair up like this." She reached her hands up, idly touching her hair as she reminisced the past. "Ever since I was a kid, I always had to tie it up this way. That's why my hair can maintain this shape."

"See, Maya. You can have nice hairstyles naturally!" Phoenix couldn't resist gloating. "I bet that boy's hairstyle is natural too! Not everything is maintained with hair gel like a fashion model on display—"

"Will you few stop gossiping about me like I'm not here?" Conan finally spoke up warily, interrupting Phoenix. "I can hear everything you say, you know."

"Oops!" Maya clasped her mouth, feeling guilty.

"Also, if you must know…" Conan mumbled softly while brushing his bangs to one side. "This clump of hair is natural," he admitted, cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Phoenix grinned in victory, seeing Maya huff annoyedly. "See, Maya! I told you!"

"I still think he looks like you, Nick!" Maya argued.

"Well, _I_ still think he's more similar to Edgeworth," Phoenix retorted. "Just look at him! Imagine him glaring at you grumpily while folding his arms and tell me you don't picture Edgeworth in your head!"

"So you think I'm a grumpy child?" Conan asked with a suspiciously sweet voice. The question seemed like an innocent query, but what Phoenix saw in his eyes told a much different story.

The child was glaring daggers at him behind those glasses.

Phoenix decided to play it safe and not anger the boy any further. Avoiding Conan's angry glare, he tried to play innocent. "Woah, woah, woah! I never said that! I was just comparing you to a friend of mine… who's always grumpy… and kinda acts a bit like you, and…" he trailed off as Conan folded his arms. "I'm not helping my case, am I?"

"Nope. It almost seems like you're digging your own grave," Conan said in that deceptively childish tone of his.

Powers then coughed, grabbing both their attention. "Well… I guess I can safely say that you two don't really know one another, do you?" He had taken a guess after seeing the interaction between the two.

"Um, yeah…" Phoenix hurriedly said, thankful for the distraction.

"Ahem!" Megure coughed. "Sorry to bother you, but can you please be quiet? I need to settle something." He leaned towards the officer who had brought in Conan and spoke in a quiet but hard tone, "Tell me, why did you handcuff him? Conan-kun's seven years old, for goodness' sake! If the public gets wind of this…"

"Oh no, there is a legitimate reason we cuffed him. He practically demanded to be cuffed!"

"Excuse me?!" Megure felt himself clenching his fists. "You did exactly what a child said?! You cuffed him just because he said that he wanted to be cuffed? What is wrong with you?! That's dangerous, why would—"

"No, Keibu! Please don't misunderstand!" the officer flailed about, trying to clear the confusion up. "I didn't cuff him for fun! The boy willingly turned himself in when we found him red-handed with the money."

"He—" Megure started.

"—what?" Phoenix finished. If Conan had the money and willingly turned himself over to the police, then that meant…

The officer nodded, before gesturing to Conan, who for some reason had a wry grin on his face. "T-T-That child…" the officer stammered, before finally managing to spit out the conclusion, "He's the prime suspect for the theft case, Megure-keibu!"

"Whhhhaaaattt!"

Megure wasn't the only one who was shocked into yelling without restraint. Phoenix couldn't believe what he had just heard. Neither did Maya, the shocked expression on her face showing her thoughts as clear as day. Pearl was gasping in shock, and Trucy was swaying uneasily on her feet.

He knew that he had a bad feeling about Conan, but this was ridiculous. The kid he'd met earlier wound up being a thief who had stolen three million dollars?! And not only that, but he had the guts to gracefully turn himself in when caught with the money?

That couldn't be right, there had to be more to it than that!

As Phoenix looked into the boy's eyes for any confirmation or denial of the officer's claim, he was shocked to find that Conan was smirking, as though _he_ , the kid who was in freaking police custody, was the one in control of everything.

 _This isn't over_ , he realized as he stared at the owner of those confident blue eyes. _Far from it, in fact._

" _It's only just begun…"_ was what Conan's composed expression seemed to imply, finishing the thought in Phoenix's head.

Needless to say, the defense attorney did not like where this was going at all. Not in the slightest.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Sorry for the wait! The first draft of this chapter ended up being so ridiculously long that I ended up having to split it into two separate chapters.

By the way, in the reviews I've got a few people giving me feedback that Shinichi/Conan is a little out of character for the past two chapters and that he should catch on to the situation faster. I have to apologize, I have to say that I'm not quite used to writing a character like him yet. But thanks for telling me because I hope to rectify this soon! If he still acts off to you guys, feel free to continue yelling at me.


	5. Elementary Interrogation, Dear Wright

A/N: Italics within single quotes represents cross-examination testimony.

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Elementary Interrogation, Dear Wright**

"C-Conan-kun… is the prime suspect?" Megure asked in disbelief. He looked appalled by the very thought. "This isn't some kind of a joke, right?" He stared determinedly at the meek officer, who began to back away from Megure.

"I swear it's true! We've been monitoring the footage for anyone who tried to leave the hotel with the briefcase just like you ordered, and we managed to catch him with the stolen briefcase at the lobby, Keibu!" he tried to justify, avoiding the judging looks that everyone was giving him. "He didn't deny it, in fact we confirmed that it's the same briefcase that was stolen. So, it's gotta be him… right?" he finished uncomfortably.

After he was done, everyone in the vicinity simply gaped at the officer, not exactly buying his shoddy explanation.

In contrast to the officer beside him, Conan looked as cool as a cucumber. Phoenix didn't understand. He was being charged by the police. Any other kid would have probably burst into tears at this point. But him? He looked bored, almost as though this whole thing was a joke.

A gasp from Pearl broke the stony silence. "So, that cute little child is really a thief?" she said sadly. "That's so horrible!"

"Well Pearls, looks can be deceiving," Phoenix replied bluntly, remembering the bad feeling he had instinctively felt about Conan earlier. "You can never know a person's true colours," he said while subconsciously glancing at Conan, hoping the boy got his message.

"Hmph!" Conan leaned forward, letting out an elongated sigh. "You're saying that as though I'm the thief." When he brought his face back up, Phoenix had to avoid a double-take at his expression.

Conan looked like he had aged a good five years in just a fraction of a second.

Due to his minute height, he had to crane his head upwards to make eye contact with the adults. But unlike normal children, who were respectful and polite to their elders, his entire body language screamed of reckless defiance. His eyes seemed to be narrower, glinting with boredom. His mouth was slightly open, lips curled downwards in an irritated frown. He had straightened his body, standing upright in a confident pose, the posture one of authority would usually adopt. There was no sign of mischief or childishness anywhere on his face. Only a serious and bored look remained. It was like the child in him had evaporated in an instant, and in its place was someone completely different — someone cold and calculative.

Phoenix began to sweat. Years of experience in court had taught him that when someone's personality abruptly changed, bad things—it was always bad by the way, never good—usually proceeded to go down.

"You should pay closer attention," Conan reprimanded. Phoenix couldn't help but laugh at the irony that a kid was lecturing fully grown adults. "The policeman only said that I turned myself in, not that I was actually the thief, right?" he asked as if it was the most obvious conclusion.

Even his voice appeared to seemingly change, which freaked Phoenix out to no end. The high-pitched chirp was gone, replaced with a slightly lower, more serious tone. He glanced around at the others, only to see that no one else had reacted.

Seriously? How could no one see that the boy's personality had completely switched? This wasn't normal!

Okay, maybe that wasn't a fair statement. He had seen rapid personality shifts before when he had forced criminals to break down in court after successfully catching them out.

But the key difference here was that those criminals weren't _children_. And they usually became more panicked and distraught after the shift, not more confident.

"But you have to be the thief! You have the briefcase!" Phoenix found himself yelling at Conan. The words had tumbled out of his mouth before he could even stop them. He blamed the change in Conan's behavior. He couldn't stand that confident smirk that the boy had now. There were too many memories of manipulative witnesses from previous cases with that _exact_ same cocky attitude.

Conan raised both arms in surrender, mumbling softly, "I don't deny that claim in the slightest, not with so many witnesses. I concede that I was carrying the briefcase with me." Before anyone could interrupt him, he hurriedly added, "That said, I did not steal the briefcase."

"Mind telling us where you got it then?" Phoenix asked, trying his best not to glare at him.

Conan blinked, suddenly reverting back to his cutesy child-like persona. "Are you sure you want to know, mister?"

"What kind of a question is that? Of course I want to know!"

"Absolutely sure?"

Phoenix twitched his eyebrows. Was Conan actively trying to annoy him? "Sure I'm sure. But the question is, are you sure?"

"I'm certainly sure of what I have to say, but you're jittery, mister!" Conan cheekily smiled. "Maybe you're not sure after all but pretending to be sure."

"Of course not! I'm sure that I'm sure that I surely want to know!"

Before Conan could reply and carry on the Looney Tunes-style back-and-forth banter, Maya rapidly waved her arms like a windshield wiper and shouted at them both.

"Yeesh! Stop with all the 'sures'! Gosh, you two are arguing like a bunch of kids!"

"Ehh… but I am a kid," Conan pouted with a confused expression. His disappointment didn't last for long, as mere seconds later he playfully pointed at Phoenix. "So then, are you referring to your friend as a kid when you're saying that?"

"Why you little…" Phoenix hissed. He had to physically stop himself from chasing after Conan after that remark. He glared at the child, only to see him pull an innocent face in return. _Gah, what I wouldn't give to clamp this kid's mouth shut! His guardian needs to teach him some manners! Whatever happened to 'respect for your elders'?!_

"Hahaha! That's exactly right, Conan!" Maya burst in laughter, merrily clapping at the sight of Phoenix getting utterly steamrolled by a child. "Nick really is just a kid at heart! Aren't you?" she teased. "Just admit it!"

"Not you too, Maya." Phoenix didn't even bother trying to argue back. His deadpan expression said all that was needed to be conveyed. "I think you need to clamp your mouth shut as well."

Maya stuck her tongue out, making Phoenix rub his temples to get rid of an oncoming migraine. _You might call me a kid, but I think you're the real kid here, Maya…_ "Now where was I?" He tried to recall where he was in the conversation before she barged in. "Oh yeah! Long story short, I'm calling your bluff. Say it, kid! Where did you get the briefcase?"

"Alright, but I warned ya." Conan smirked, a calculative scheming look in his eyes. "Your daughter. She was the one who handed the briefcase to me."

"What?! You take that back!" Phoenix screamed so loudly that the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling shook from his voice alone. "Trucy would never do such a thing!"

Seeing that this was turning back, Maya grabbed his arm to try to calm him down, "Nick, calm down! He's just a kid."

"You don't trust me just because I'm a kid? Now that's not very nice, is it?"

Phoenix noticed that Conan had a weird expression on his face when making his retort. Although he looked upset, there was a hint of a grin which almost made it seem as though he had expected his outburst. "Y-You're lying, dammit!" he sputtered out when he saw Conan's unnatural calmness.

He had to be lying, he had to be!

"Lying is a bad thing to do!" Pearl lectured, looking down at Conan with a stern expression. "Please don't lie, Mr. Conan."

There was an awkward silence from everyone after Pearl made her brutally honest, but adorable, statement. Even Conan couldn't help but let his emotions betray his thoughts, smiling slightly as though he was amused.

Finally, Conan replied. "But it's the truth," he said while making eye contact with Pearl. "I'm sorry to say, but your daughter is the one who did it." He gave a tired sigh, eyes gazing up as he recalled a memory. "As painful as it is, there is only one truth."

"Only one truth, huh?" Phoenix pointed his finger at Conan accusedly. "Then show me proof of your little 'truth'!" There were gasps from others around that tried to hush him and say that he was being too harsh on the kid, but he paid them no heed. "Don't mess with me! Do you have any proof that it was Trucy who handed you the stolen briefcase? Do you?!"

Two pairs of blue eyes met — his uncertain blue ones and Conan's own confident pair. What sort of game was that kid playing? Why was he accusing Trucy?!

"Well, to be honest…" Conan shrugged helplessly with a disappointed look. "I don't have any physical proof."

Just as Phoenix was about to gloat, Conan's upset look was suddenly replaced with one that he couldn't decipher. The small boy began tapping his foot, "However, just because I don't have any proof doesn't mean that the proof doesn't exist. Why don't you ask her yourself?" he gestured towards Trucy. "I'm sure your daughter can clear all of our doubts."

"Of course I will!" Phoenix retorted back, not noticing that Conan's eyes appeared brighter after he took the offer. Trucy winced a little as her father walked over to her. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he smirked back at Conan. "Trucy, did you hand this briefcase filled with money to that boy?"

This was it. Phoenix knew that Conan's jig was up. The child might be a skilled liar, but surely he couldn't expect an innocent girl to take the fall for him. He might be cute, but not unbelievably cute to the point where Trucy would do such a thing.

"Ummm… well…" Trucy bit her lip, unwilling to answer.

"Go on," Phoenix pressured upon seeing his adoptive daughter hesitate. "Trucy, there's nothing to be scared of. You didn't do anything wrong." Seeing Phoenix by her side, she breathed out and relaxed. She looked left and right, giving everyone a firm look in her eyes before finishing.

"…I did give him the briefcase."

"Wwwwhhhhhaaaatttttt?!" Phoenix shouted at her answer. That wasn't the response he had anticipated!

He wasn't the only one. Most of the group was stunned speechless at her admission of guilt, quite literally. At the outburst of shock from multiple people, Trucy fidgeted with her top hat, tipping the brim downwards out of nervousness.

 _That sneaky brat!_ Phoenix's mouth fell agape as he realized the implications of what he had just done.

Conan had been waiting for this! The boy had been telling the truth after all, and he had walked right into his trap! He let his emotions get the better if him and did exactly what Conan had expected.

He whirled around at the mastermind with fury in his eyes, only to meet the boy acting innocent with an 'I-told-you-so' face.

That… that manipulative son-of-a-gun!

The atmosphere suddenly became quite tense as everyone redirected their gaze of suspicion from Conan to Trucy. "So the kid wasn't sprouting out hogwash after all?" the policeman said, exasperated by the turn of events. "He really was handed the stolen briefcase," he pointed at Trucy, "by that girl?"

"It certainly seems that way," Megure stated, studying Trucy carefully with his eye. "Conan-kun is a rather honest child. To be frank, I simply can't see the kid lying."

 _You can't see him lying? That means you don't know him as well as you think, Inspector._ Phoenix almost wanted to say that thought out loud to wipe the confident look off of Conan's face, but stopped himself at the last second lest he attracted Megure's wrath. Insulting a foreign police officer was not a good idea. Furthermore, the inspector was oddly protective of that young boy.

Phoenix's eyes widened as he realized that Megure wasn't the only one who acted that way. Conan's parental guardian, Ran, had also been really protective when he had seen her earlier.

If anything, Phoenix was worried about Conan's influential charm. He had way too many people wrapped around his little finger. Everyone appeared to think that he was an ordinary boy, but Phoenix alone knew the truth. If his interactions from earlier was any indicator, hidden beneath that childlike boyish exterior was a very intelligent and manipulative boy.

What's more, the Magatama proved that Conan can most definitely lie, rather convincingly, at that. A young child intelligent enough to use his precocious charm to get whatever he wanted… now _that_ was a scary thought.

Come to think of it, he still hadn't managed to find out anything about that, had he? Why did the Magatama react at that specific statement?

 _Maybe I should ask Pearls if the Magatama is faulty… gah, what am I doing? Trying to make excuses for that boy?_ Phoenix shook his head. The Magatama could give false negatives, but never false positives.

Conan'd definitely lied about his name. But why? Nothing about this made sense…

He was rudely yanked out of his thoughts when an unwelcome statement reached his ears. "So then, does this mean that the thief is her? Trucy-san?" The policeman, who had hesitated up to this point, finally found the strength to take charge.

Megure sighed. "I think that she will have to be questioned as well—"

"Oh no she's not!" Phoenix shouted into Megure's face, which threw the inspector for a loop as he stepped back, wiping some of the spit off his face. Phoenix glared down at Conan with anger, "I'm not letting this go! I have a feeling you aren't telling us the whole truth. I demand you tell us everything!"

"Hold it right there," Megure held up his hand. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you can't just question a member of the public without any rights."

"Hah!" Powers chuckled. "Not to worry, inspector. He most definitely has the necessary rights."

"Huh?" Megure tilted his head, "I don't quite get you. Please elaborate, Powers-san." Even Conan appeared to be uncertain of what Powers was driving at.

Maya beat him to it. "Nick over here—" she wrapped her arms around Phoenix's shoulder, ignoring his grunt of protest, "—has been through this interrogation thing countless times before in the past! He's an attorney!"

Out of the corner of Phoenix's eye, he saw Conan perk up slightly. "You're a defense lawyer?" Conan treaded carefully, uncertainty detectable in his tone.

 _Why does he seem so surprised? It's almost like he isn't sure if I really am a lawyer. But it should be obvious if anyone sees my-oh._

"Gah! I forgot to pin my attorney's badge up!" he moaned. Reaching into his breast pocket, he attached a bronze, round badge to his collar. "Sorry about that. Phoenix Wright, defence attorney, at your service." He couldn't resist giving a formal introduction after pinning his Attorney's Badge.

"Phoenix Wright?" Conan's eyes glistened. He put his hand to his chin in thought, "Wright… Wright…" he rolled the name off his tongue a few times before eventually shaking his head. "I thought your name was Nick," he finally admitted.

Phoenix cursed under his breath. He knew exactly who was to blame for that one. "That's just my nickname," he mumbled. The nickname had basically become a part of him now. Even Pearls had adopted a more polite version of it. "But enough talk. Attorneys have the right to question people, so I want to interrogate you right now!"

Conan snorted in response. "Me?" he asked, feigning surprise.

"Wait now!" Megure looked surprised by Phoenix's determination. "You can't just take authority like that!"

Phoenix was ready to object, but to his surprise Conan tugged on Megure's jacket. "You know what? Let him see the evidence, Megure-keibu!"

"C-Conan-kun?" Megure looked down at the child. "Are you sure about this?"

Conan nodded his head. "That guy looks like he isn't going to quit, so I'm just going to have to personally convince him that I'm innocent."

"You can never keep out of trouble, can you?" Megure grimaced, certain that this was going to be a long day. Accepting the chaos as being one of those days—which usually happened when Conan-kun was in the vicinity—he gave in. He took out a photo of the briefcase and a document, passing them to Phoenix. "Here, Wright-san. This is a copy of the theft report and a photo of the recovered briefcase."

New Case Evidence — **Theft Report** : _Theft report filed by Will Powers on behalf of Global Studios. The stolen object in question is a black briefcase containing three million dollars. It was reported and filed at 11pm on the night of April 23th._

New Case Evidence — **Black Briefcase** : _The stolen briefcase containing $3 million. None of the money seems to be removed. Preliminary forensics test performed reveals Conan's fingerprints on the handle._

After sifting through the evidence he had been given, he walked towards Conan, who had been pacing about while he had been studying the things Megure had given him. "So, Conan," he started in a calm voice. He knew better than to rush headfirst this time after his hastiness was abused by Conan to flip all suspicion onto Trucy ten minutes ago. "I want to know exactly how you found that briefcase."

 _He might not have lied about Trucy giving him the stolen briefcase… but I know he isn't an honest child! Right now he has the police wrapped around his thumb, thinking he's completely innocent. So all I need to do is to find some flaw in his testimony to deflect suspicion off Trucy!_

As a lawyer, Phoenix knew firsthand how mistruths beget more lies. Eventually those multitudes of lies would reach a tipping point, where a contradiction would usually be obvious and shatter all the lies, revealing the truth for the world to see.

And now was that time. He felt adrenaline course through him as he stared down his opponent. He would unveil Edogawa Conan's true nature as a compulsive liar and tear down his childish charade in front of the police.

He couldn't fail here! His dear Trucy's fate depended on it. He might have screwed up earlier, but this time he would catch Conan out, or go down trying.

~ _Witness Testimony_ ~

#- Trucy & the Briefcase -#

"The ninth floor of the hotel, that's where it happened." Conan put his hand to his chin, face deep in thought, almost like he was trying to recall something specific. "I remember the time was 9.23am," he finally continued after about a five second pause, "At that exact time, I had the misfortune of running into Trucy-san, the magician girl."

Conan then pointed straight at Trucy with an accusatory look in his eyes, "She was holding the briefcase in her hand. When she saw me, she handed it to me and left," he cried out. "And that's how I ended up with the briefcase. I had absolutely no clue that there was stolen money inside of it!" He looked down, as if he seemed ashamed of himself, although Phoenix couldn't begin to imagine what the boy was really feeling at the moment. "If I knew that it had been stolen, I would have called the police immediately! I'm terribly sorry for all the trouble I caused…" he trailed off sheepishly.

After concluding, he gave a small smile to the group of police and civilians. "That's all. Any questions?"

Phoenix kept his face neutral, trying not to show the sense of dread that he was currently feeling. That… did not go the way he had anticipated at all.

Man, for a seven-year-old, Conan's testimony was frankly pretty solid. It didn't appear to have any obvious flaws at all. The child was being deliberately vague, saying only what he thought and felt — all of which would only be classified as subjective or circumstantial evidence in the eyes of a lawyer.

He shook his head. So what if it was? He wasn't in court! This wasn't a cross-examination, so he didn't have to worry about a prosecutor countering him with that 'circumstantial evidence' argument agai-wait…

This wasn't a cross-examination!

"You know?" he whispered to Maya, "I think this is the first time this has ever happened."

"Huh?" Maya looked at him confused. "What do you mean? You've done this multiple times before—"

"No! Not that!" he interrupted, "I usually confront people in court. I think this is one of the few times I'm debating with them outside of court. That's usually Edgeworth's job."

Pearl raised an arm to clarify her doubts. "But Mr. Edgeworth's a prosecutor. Don't prosecutors also cross-examine in court?"

"Edgeworth might be a prosecutor, but he'd told me he had to investigate like a detective before. Guess he's two-timing his job, because an argument is much easier without me as an opponent." Phoenix chuckled. _Maybe he just wanted to win some debates for once, since he doesn't win as often whenever I face him in court._

* * *

"Achoo!" A loud sneeze rang throughout the room.

"Mr. Edgeworth." A woman dressed in raven-like clothes cheekily grinned. "Are you feeling cold?"

"It's nothing, Kay." Thanking his lucky stars that none of the mucus had ruined his precious red suit, the prosecutor paused to wipe his nose with a fancy handkerchief before putting his finger to his lip. Musing, Edgeworth muttered, "I just had a feeling that someone, somewhere, has just insulted me."

"That's not really a nice thing to do, huh Mr. Edgeworth?" his assistant commented.

"Yes, and I have a feeling as to who that someone is," Edgeworth shook his head, banging his head against his desk to suppress a yell.

 _Wrightttttttt…_ he thought with a mental sigh.

* * *

"Huh. For some reason I felt a chill just now," Phoenix commented. "Must be the temperate climate here in Japan."

"Or the air conditioning! We've been standing under one that's been at full blast, Nick! Are you that unobservant?"

Phoenix looked up and realized that Maya was right. Walking three paces to the right to avoid the cool air, he curled his fists into a ball, "If anyone is giving me chills, it's Conan. That kid—"

"…Is as adorable as Pearly is when she was young!"

 _Brilliant, even Maya got suckered in by 'im._ He shook his head, looking back at Conan. _Regardless of whether this is a cross-examination in court or not, I'm going to get him!_

~ _Cross-Examination_ ~

Maya guffawed. "Nick… you just said that you weren't in court right now. This isn't really a cross-examination, right? I mean, there's no prosecutor here, right?"

"Must you really be that petty, Maya? It's the same thing, right?" When he saw Maya puffing her face out again, he groaned.

There really was no winning this, was there?

~ _Rebuttal_ ~

"Okay, now that I managed to satisfy Maya's complaint, you may repeat your testimony now." Phoenix glanced down at Conan to see an irritated look flicker across his face from his words. _Good to see that I'm not the only one that think Maya's requests are a tad annoying at times._

 _But for now, I can't afford to let up on him._ Phoenix looked at the bespectacled boy carefully. _I need to press everything he says until he slips up and makes a mistake._

' _The ninth floor of the hotel, that's where it happened.'_

" **HOLD IT!** "

"Geez!" Conan cupped his ears, wincing from Phoenix's yell. "Your voice is terribly loud! My ears hurt…" he grumbled.

"Sorry… I get that a lot," he ruffled his hair in embarrassment. Realizing he was drifting off-topic, he quickly returned to Conan with a determined look. "Just what were you doing on the ninth floor? When I saw you earlier, you were on the ground floor! Why did you feel the need to go to the ninth floor?"

It didn't take Conan long to respond. "Because it's fun to ride the elevator to the top floor! Wheeeee!" he beamed with an excited smile. "There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

Phoenix felt himself going slowly insane as Conan launched into a tirade about why playing with elevator buttons was a blast. _Whup, looks like that went nowhere. I need to remember that he's just a kid…_

' _I remember the time was 9.23am. At that exact time, I had the misfortune of running into Trucy-san, the magician girl.'_

" **HOLD IT!** "

 _I can't really question him on meeting up with Trucy, since I know it's true, so I'll just have to press him on the first part._

"Why are you so certain of the time?" This portion was definitely weird. "You said, and I quote, 'I remember the time was 9.23am'. Any reason as to why you know of the time that the two of you met down to the very minute?"

Conan lifted his left arm up, flashing a silver object on his wrist. "I wear a watch," he bluntly replied as the watch in question glinted under the ceiling light, "Isn't it normal to keep track of the time?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

 _Not for a kid! Children never care about the time! That's why they're always so carefree._

 _Hey, why is Trucy suddenly gazing at me like that?_ Phoenix thought worriedly. _She can't possibly know that I'm thinking about her… could she?_

 _She does, doesn't she?_ A wink from Trucy confirmed his thoughts.

 _Hey, you're supposed to be on my side! I'm trying to save you here, y'know…_

' _She was holding the briefcase in her hand. When she saw me, she handed it to me and left.'_

 _This statement_ , Phoenix clenched his fist. This was it — the boy's damning statement. If it couldn't be disproved, then Conan would be able to get off scot-free and Trucy would be indicted as the culprit in his place.

This was the part of his testimony that he needed to focus on. He breathed in deeply, making the arguments in his mind, before yelling…

" **HOLD IT!** "

"Are you sure that Trucy was holding the briefcase in her hand? Absolutely positive?" He looked closely at his body language to spot any tells.

"Yes." Conan involuntarily winced before he elaborated, "She threw that thing at me. Right in the face too." He rubbed his cheeks, mumbling something unfriendly under his breath. "Of course I would remember something like that."

"Are you sure you didn't make this up?"

"Don't badger Conan-kun, Wright-san," Megure eyed Phoenix cautiously. "The scenario sounds plausible enough to me."

 _Just brilliant. Now the police are getting in the way again. What should I do? Should I press further? If I go too far, the inspector might cause trouble or stop me from interrogating altogether._

He shook his head, knocking those negative thoughts out of his mind. _There's no turning back. I can't let up on him, or else Trucy will…_

"Were the two of you alone at the time?"

He nodded his head. "That's right. Only me and her."

"How do I know that you're telling the truth? There is the possibility that you could be lying if there were no other witnesses. You need an alibi to prove that you were both really on the ninth floor!"

"Isn't your daughter my alibi?" Before Phoenix could stop him, Conan signaled to Trucy with a cute pout, "Trucy-san!" Phoenix couldn't help but notice that his voice suddenly became even more childish than before, if that was even possible. "You were there with me on the ninth floor, right?"

He caught onto Conan's plan far too late. _No, no, no, he's tricking you by acting cute! Don't say yes!_

"Yep!" Trucy didn't even realize that she had compromised her position further. All she currently cared about was seeing little Conan smile, which he most definitely did after she basically verified his claim.

"You sneaky little brat," Phoenix mumbled under his breath. Conan gave a cute smile in response, pretending that Trucy shooting herself in the foot was just a coincidence and not a craftily planned ploy.

"Mr. Nick! That's not very nice," Pearl said in a reprimanding voice. "He didn't do anything wrong at all. All he did was smile at Trucy."

"No, Pearls. Conan did not just 'smile' at her. He used a tactic that every little child knows how to abuse."

"Huh?" Pearl scanned Conan, trying to decipher the meaning of Phoenix's cryptic words. "What tactic are you talking about, Mr. Nick?"

"An evil tactic that every child knows how to use on adults in order to get their way."

She frowned in frustration. "Well, I don't remember ever using any tactic to get my way when I was younger…"

 _Not true, Pearls. You mastered the puppy-eye look back in the day. Especially when it came to shipping me with your cousin._ He decided to change the topic before any more cute images came to his mind and reduced him to a puddle of goo.

"Oh, come on!" he said to Conan, who finally dropped his smile in response, "You gotta admit, throwing a heavy briefcase at a child is a pretty far-fetched scenario."

"But she did do it, no matter how much you try to convince yourself otherwise." Conan folded his arms, annoyance radiating from him clear as day. He was definitely unhappy about this topic in particular. "Alright, let me ask you. You're Trucy-san's father, correct? Surely you would know your own daughter better than anyone. Can you see her behaving like that?"

Phoenix froze. _Gah! Unfortunately, he's right! Trucy always had a flair for theatrics!_ He had to admit, he could imagine Trucy throwing the briefcase if someone like Apollo was in Conan's place.

Seeing Phoenix stunned, Conan went in for a low blow. "Wright-san, take my advice. You really need to teach her some kind of self-restraint."

His advice caused Phoenix to grow flustered. "H-Hey! I'm supposed to be the parent here, not you! Don't meddle in my family affairs!"

' _And that's how I ended up with the briefcase. I had absolutely no clue that there was stolen money inside of it!'_

" **HOLD IT!** "

If he was in court, this would be the point where he would slam the desk. "You mean you didn't find the briefcase suspicious at all? I highly doubt that."

Conan shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. "You're running out of arguments, aren't you?" he remarked, skipping over Phoenix's question.

"No!" Phoenix hastily denied. "Whatever gave you that impression?!"

"Your question, of course." He gave a crooked smile, almost like he wanted to laugh out loud. "What sort of question is that?"

"Just answer it."

Conan gave a tired sigh. "This is a hotel. Tourists carry briefcases. Of course I wouldn't think it was weird," he said in a bored tone, like his thought process was as simple as 1+1.

 _Wow, when he puts it that way I really feel inferior._

' _If I knew that it had been stolen, I would have called the police immediately! I'm terribly sorry for all the trouble I caused…'_

" **HOLD IT!** "

By this fifth yell, Phoenix could see visible creases in Conan's brow. He was rapidly getting annoyed by the constant interruptions. "I'm sorry, but you can't seriously have a problem with this statement, do you? Isn't it human nature to call the authorities when there's trouble?" he grumbled.

 _Human nature? I would have thought that for children, you lot are taught to call the cops by your parents!_

"That's not what I was trying to imply. I mean…" he trailed off, at a loss for words. _Damn it! When it comes down to it, I don't have a single piece of evidence to support my claim!_

As if guessing his thoughts, Maya teasingly messed with him. "Getting stumped by a kid has to be a new low for you, Nick."

"Oh, _you_ try arguing with him. It's like talking to a brick wall, that boy's not easy to break in the slightest."

 _There has to be some contradiction! There has to be!_ He looked over all the lines of Conan's testimony a second time.

' _The ninth floor of the hotel, that's where it happened.'_

This statement was a fact. There was nowhere else it could have been. Phoenix hurriedly moved on to the next sentence.

' _I remember the time was 9.23am. At that exact time, I had the misfortune of running into Trucy-san, the magician girl.'_

Trucy'd already admitted that she met Conan, so this statement was also hopeless to refute.

' _She was holding the briefcase in her hand. When she saw me, she handed it to me and left.'_

The outrageous story that Conan had told earlier was also confirmed to be true… but something about it seemed off.

He prepared to sift through the evidence and see if anything contradicted Conan.

 _Wait!_ He looked through the Court Record—which was really easy with so little items this time—and found something very intriguing. _This was it!_

He smirked as he prepared to rip the boy to shreds. The payback he was about to deal was going to be so satisfying.

" **OBJECTION!** " Phoenix yelled in triumph, pointing directly at Conan with his right index finger. Finally, something going well on this accused trip. The next time Maya won any free tickets for a holiday, he was _so_ going to pass.

"T-t-the pointer finger's _my_ gimmick…" Conan protested, almost inaudibly. He narrowed his eyes, gazing at Phoenix with his hands still in his pockets, "So what exactly is your objection anyway?"

Phoenix smirked. "That's elementary. You claimed that at 9.23am, only you and Trucy were in the area, correct?"

"Yes?" he warily answered, not sure of Phoenix's point.

His smile grew wider. "And you continue to insist that she was holding the case before you?"

"That's right," he nodded.

"I'm afraid that's not possible," he shook his head with a smirk. "Because you see, only your fingerprints were found on the briefcase handle. Since Trucy's prints aren't on the case, that means only one thing… you're lying about your meetup!" he declared. Seeing Maya give him a thumbs-up from his side, he finished off his theory, "But why lie? Well, the only reason you'll lie to a police officer is to throw suspicion off yourself, which means you're more than likely to be the real thief!"

It felt so good to turn this around on that cocky brat! Phoenix was going to enjoy watching him squirm like the child he was supposed to be.

Wait… why wasn't he squirming?

He began to feel uneasy at seeing Conan not react even a little bit after his reasoning. Phoenix wiped away a trickle of sweat from his face, careful not to let his mounting apprehension show. "Why are you smiling like that?"

His glasses glinted from the overhead light, giving Conan a creepy appearance. "I knew you'd mention that. Tsk, tsk," he clucked his tongue.

"What are you talking about?" He stormed towards the child. "You couldn't possibly know what I was going to say!"

"So what? It was obvious that you'll bring it up. The fingerprints, I mean."

 _Damn, he's arrogant as hell!_

"Besides," he continued, "I can very easily dispel that argument."

"You WHAT?!"

"I can't believe you didn't notice. Of course her fingerprints wouldn't show up… Trucy-san is wearing gloves, after all."

Phoenix's eyes widened, before they darted over to Trucy. Sure enough, she was still wearing her trademark white magician gloves. "B-b-but…" he tried to counter. "Just because she had gloves on now, doesn't mean that—"

"You're contradicting your own statement," Conan shrugged. "If she didn't have gloves at the time, then her prints would be on the handle."

"Unless you're lying!" Phoenix refused to back down. "If you're lying about the whole thing, then her prints wouldn't be on it whether she had gloves or not!"

"Your own daughter already admitted to being on the ninth floor with me, and to throwing that thing in my face," Conan glared at a sheepish Phoenix. "You truly are desperate. Your argument held no water to begin with."

Phoenix looked at Trucy helplessly, before holding his hands to his head in despair.

The worst part was that deep down in his heart he knew that Conan was absolutely right. He had presented the fingerprints despite how flimsy of an argument it was. He had let his emotions get the better of him, ignoring his subconscious telling him that Trucy always had gloves on, all for the chance to prove her not guilty of the charge.

He should have known better.

Was… this it? Conan's testimony would be enough to incarcerate her.

"Although, all that said… I wouldn't call Trucy-san the culprit of the theft."

What Conan said made Phoenix look up in surprise. He didn't dare to breathe.

"It was the gloves," he explained. "If Trucy-san truly was the thief and she had wanted to get rid of the stolen money by handing it to me, then she should have disposed of the gloves she was wearing. It would cast unwanted suspicion if she continued to wear them."

"Yeah! What he said!" Phoenix readily agreed. He didn't understand why Conan of all people would come to his rescue, but at this point he would take anything.

He ignored the weird disapproving glances he got that screamed "really?" Maya's look in particular was saying "You let a seven-year-old kid beat you? Wow, you've gotten rusty, Nick." Yeah, he could read Maya's mind by now.

"But Conan-kun," Megure frowned, "Assuming your theory is correct, then where did the stolen briefcase come from?"

"Ah, that I don't know." He looked irritated at that admission. "As of now I cannot prove how Trucy-san managed to get the briefcase. Perhaps she found it somewhere?"

"If that's the case, we're right back to where we started. Since neither you nor Trucy-san is responsible, we don't have a definitive culprit for the theft." Megure glanced over to Trucy, lingering his gaze on her. Eventually, he turned towards Will Powers. "Well, what do you think about all of this, Powers-san?"

Powers shrugged back. "Honestly, Inspector? I've known Mr. Wright for ages. I can attest that his daughter is definitely innocent." He then turned towards Conan with a hearty smile. "Also, I don't believe that the kid stole it either. He's a child, for crying out loud. We adults probably traumatized him enough." Megure guffawed at that remark, but Powers carried on, not understanding the inside joke. "The important thing here is that we managed to get the stolen money back."

"Oh, that's right. You actually got your money back, Powers-san," Megure said, clapping his fists together. "I suppose unless we investigate further, we won't know who the person who originally stole the briefcase was. But at the very least we managed to recover it."

"That's right! If we didn't manage to retrieve that three million dollars…" Powers trailed off with a sheepish look, not wishing to finish the thought. "Anyway, I guess you can close the theft case now, inspector? I have to get going soon. The concert's about to commence, and I can't miss the grand opening!"

Megure called out to the retreating actor. "As you wish, Powers-san. Now, I think—"

"Hey, wait a second!" The crowd of people turned around to source of the interruption, the person in question being Trucy. "Hey! You can't close the case yet! The show's not over, not when you guys haven't found the real thief yet!"

Phoenix had to resist wringing something in frustration. "Trucy, what are you doing! It's in your favor! Just take the verdict!"

Megure shook his head at the father-daughter chaos. He strode over and patted Trucy on the back. "You and Conan-kun are out of our custody. Now keep safe and enjoy the concert."

New Case Evidence — **Conan's Testimony** : _Record of conversation with Edogawa Conan after being caught with the stolen briefcase. The last person before Conan to handle the stolen briefcase was Trucy Wright. The case itself was not suspicious looking, which was why Conan was holding onto it._

"Yay!" Pearl cheered, hugging her friend after Megure declared her to be off the hook, "I knew you were innocent, Trucy!"

"Don't lie, Pearly!" Maya grinned, "I bet you thought that your friend was guilty!"

"That's not true, Mystic Maya! I had faith in Trucy!"

Before the two cousins could continue to banter, a new voice barged in. "Conan-kun!"

"Ahhh—" Phoenix saw the barest flicker of fright on the boy's face, before Conan's expression turned innocently cheery in record time. "H-Hi there, Ran-neechan," he stuttered.

"Conan-kun…" Ran glowered, making Conan laugh nervously. "You better have a good explanation for this."

"Yeah, you little brat!" Sonoko scowled down at Conan. "You worried Ran sick when she realised that you snuck off on us when we were talking."

Just then, Ran caught sight of Inspector Megure. "Hm, why are you here, Keibu?"

"Ah, Ran-kun," Megure waved, "Are you here for the Neo Olde Tokyo concert?"

"Yes, I am. But what about you?" she asked, turning the question back around. "You don't look like you're here for the concert…" Her eyes briefly flashed dark as she realized the implication of Megure's appearance, "Wait a minute… don't tell me you've been caught up in yet another dangerous case, Conan-kun?" she muttered irritably, making Conan flinch momentarily.

 _Another dangerous case? More than… one?_ Phoenix frowned. What was all that about?

"Oh no," Conan waved his arms frantically to deny Ran's accusation. "I swear, I wasn't involved in anything dangerous, Ran-neechan. It wasn't even a murder case this time!"

Phoenix was gobsmacked upon hearing his last words. He stared at Conan with wide eyes, as though he was seeing the child for the first time. He'd always had his doubts about Conan, but even after everything he had found out about thus far, this was seriously eerie.

Wasn't even a _what_? A murder case? He was involved in multiple murder cases? What the hell! Was this why he needed a false name? No, that couldn't be…

Gah! It all came back to the million-dollar question. Why the heck would a freaking seven-year-old have the need to falsify his identity?

Why?

There was no way Conan was going to tell, so the only way Phoenix would ever find out was if he forced the truth out of him. He reached into his suit pocket, feeling the warm glow of the Magatama in the palm of his hand.

If there was any time to confront Conan about this, it was now.

 _All right, Edogawa Conan. Time to find out who you really are! I bet that him being involved with murder cases is a huge clue. Perhaps now I can break his Psyche-Locks and solve this mystery!_

As he pulled out the lime green Magatama, he caught sight of Inspector Megure crouching down and leaning close to the young boy. "Oi, Conan-kun," he managed to catch Megure's whisper. His curiosity piqued, he placed the Magatama back and crept closer to try to hear what the two were talking about.

Megure carried on speaking with a low voice. "I think it would be best not to tell Ran-chan that you almost got arrested."

Yeah, that was probably a good idea. The boy would probably get grounded forever if she knew.

Unfortunately for the duo, Phoenix wasn't the only one who was eavesdropping. Being Teitan High School's resident gossip queen, Sonoko happened to be blessed with very sharp hearing. "Huh! The brat in glasses almost got arrested by the cops?!" she announced loudly, revealing what was supposed to be Megure and Conan's "secret" conversation to practically everyone in the vicinity.

He saw Conan visibly stiffen at Sonoko's outburst. It looked like he was contemplating cursing Sonoko under his breath or waiting for the ground to swallow him up so he didn't have to stay in the area. But why did he look like he was about to faint? Every one of them already knew about his near arrest, and Phoenix doubted it mattered if some random hotel guests found out.

"Cooonnnan-kun! Yo-You got in trouble with the police?!" Ran shouted in anger, making the child back away in terror. "Oh, you are in big trouble now, young man! This was supposed to be a fun family outing!"

Oh. That explained it. _Almost_ everybody knew. Phoenix had to fight back a smile at seeing the troublesome boy finally getting his just desserts.

"Uhhh, Ran-neechan, I-I can explain…" Conan was sweating bullets, a terrified expression plastered onto his normally calm face.

Huh, this was interesting. Phoenix hadn't expected Conan to be _this_ terrified of his guardian. Seriously, the kid had been able to calmly face down a theft charge and somehow manage to swing it in his favour like it was nothing, but surprisingly he was acting like a normal, scared kid when it came to interactions with Ran.

Maybe it was parental instinct. Despite everything, he was still seven years old. She had authority over Conan, so naturally he would still have some innate fear of her.

"Relax, Ran-kun!" Megure said, trying to diffuse the situation. "As I said, he was _almost_ arrested, not actually arrested! It turned out to be an honest mistake, so please, do calm down."

"Hmph! This still shows that you're not infallible, _Conan-kun_." Sonoko gloated. Conan turned away with a huff when he realized that she had called him by his actual name for emphasis. "Maybe you should behave and listen to Ran next time!" she grinned down at Conan, winking with a smirk of victory on her face.

"Alright, Sonoko-neechan…" Conan conceded. It wasn't a full surrender, however. Phoenix could detect some irritation from his voice that showed he wasn't really being sincere with his promise.

Geez, what a defiant child! Thank goodness neither Trucy nor Pearls had ever been this rebellious! He was already having trouble just watching others deal with Conan, so there was no way he could imagine himself in a position where he would have to look after a problem child like him 24/7.

"Would you look at the time? We better get in before it becomes a stampede." Ran held Conan by the hand, "No more sneaking off, Conan-kun! Come, let's watch the concert together, okay? I bet the others are worried about you too."

"Ran-neechan, I…" Suddenly, Phoenix saw Conan's eyes widen. For just one second, the childish mask on his face fell and in its place was a horrified gasp. He could see the boy's entire body stiffen. Immediately after, he relaxed and continued walking with Ran, trying to pretend that nothing had happened.

It didn't fool Phoenix. Conan had shown obvious signs of worry. Something must have happened for the calm child to suddenly panic. He immediately pivoted on his heel, trying to see what caught Conan's eye.

Just what was Conan looking at? There was nothing obvious in the foreground that caught his attention.

Unless, it wasn't a stationary object he had seen. It must have been mobile… a person!

Unfortunately, there was a sea of people in the lobby. There was no way he could narrow the person in question down. Worse still, by the time he turned back, Conan and Ran were gone.

Shoot! There went his chance to interrogate Conan! It looked as though breaking the Psyche-Locks and the mystery of Conan's identity would have to wait for another time.

"Come on, Nick! Let's go! I can't wait for the Steel Samurai!"

"Yeah, Mr. Nick! The Neo Olde Tokyo concert is about to start!"

"They're both right, you know. It's over already, Daddy. That old inspector's gone, and he hadn't arrested me in the end, so don't be so down!"

Phoenix blinked as Trucy, Pearl and Maya all looked at him with concerned faces. "Do I really look that bad?"

"Yes." The response was unanimous.

"Fine… I won't let this ruin our day. Let's just see this stupid thing already."

"Nick! How dare you! The Steel Samurai isn't stupid! It's a way of life…"

He drowned out Maya's gushing as he started trudging towards the ballroom. He didn't have the heart to admit that he lied about dropping the topic. Conan's face, etched in terror, was still engraved into his mind. The gesture had struck Phoenix as strange.

Why had Conan reacted so strongly?

He couldn't shake off his unease. What on earth could have spooked Conan out? Who could have scared a boy that was unfazed by the prospect of being arrested by the police and managed to face down a professional lawyer in an argument?

" _I swear, I wasn't involved in anything dangerous, Ran-neechan. It wasn't even a murder case this time!"_

Phoenix wasn't sure he wanted to find out.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Ah, I'm such a tease. _So many_ of you expected a court case this chapter. Oops.

Um, sorry I couldn't deliver on that (yet), but you at least get the cross examination — though I had to make fun of Ace Attorney Investigations to do it, which I apologize for. Actually, disregard that, I'm not sorry for that jab. I really couldn't resist.

And to the reviewers debating which prosecutor will eventually step in? You'll have to keep on guessing!


	6. Nine of Diamonds

**Chapter 6: Nine of Diamonds**

"Please, I swear I'm not crazy. You have to believe me!"

"You ain't fooling me, Nick! I'm telling you, you're exaggerating. Don't try to make a mountain out of a molehill!"

"Maya, there really _is_ something up with that boy! He gives me the creeps!" Phoenix sighed when he saw that his words weren't able to penetrate Maya's thick skull. Knowing when to cut his losses, he proceeded to turn to the two younger girls to ask for their opinion, "Pearls, Trucy, you guys see it too, right?"

"Daddy," Trucy slouched, her eyes meeting his with a deadpan look. "He's like, seven. What on earth can he possibly do?"

"I completely agree with Trucy, Mr. Nick." Pearl gave her friend a pat on the back to show her support. "Besides, Mr. Conan is really nice and polite. A child who has been taught manners like that cannot possibly be all that bad."

"Arghhhhh!" Phoenix let out a shout of pure frustration. "Pearls, don't _ever_ call him Mr. Conan again. I beg you, please!"

He should have known. He should have guessed that trouble would come knocking on his door the second he had even a smidge of good fortune. He just hadn't expected that the fist that came knocking would be that of a seven-year-old boy.

It wasn't enough that Conan had to dress exactly like he did, huh? The kid just _had_ to have wonderful acting skills to gain sympathy from other people too, which was very similar to how Phoenix would try to squirm his way out of a sticky situation when a prosecutor cornered him in court. It somewhat irked the lawyer that as a cute child, Conan was significantly more successful in that regard.

He was now starting to think that there was some legitimate merit to Maya's argument that the two of them were similar. It went right down to their job scope, it would seem…

" _It wasn't even a murder case this time!"_

It made sense in retrospect. _Of course_ he was involved with the police. The boy had mentioned that he'd wanted to be a detective when he grew up. As if to seal the date, Inspector Megure had recognized Conan earlier, which proved to Phoenix that the two had met before.

But so much of the puzzle still didn't make any sense.

" _It was the gloves. If Trucy-san truly was the thief and she had wanted to get rid of the stolen money by handing it to me, then she should have disposed of the gloves she was wearing."_

After Conan had managed to masterfully set Trucy up as the culprit so he could weasel his way out of police suspicion, he then subsequently went out of his way to prove that she also wasn't likely to be the criminal.

 _But what for? Why bother going through the trouble?_ To Phoenix, the equivalent of what Conan had done would be if a prosecutor like Edgeworth had completely crushed his argument in court but chose not to make use of the opportunity, instead giving an immediate reprieve so that he wouldn't have to make something up on the spot.

So why did he do it? What was his motive? What was his whole deal? And above all, who _was_ he?

" _My name's Conan! Edogawa Conan!"_

The five Psyche-Locks that materialized via the Magatama before completely surrounding the child certainly disagreed.

So many questions buzzing about in his mind, and till now not a single one of them had been answered. In fact, more questions ended up being compounded onto the previous ones until Phoenix was forced to admit that Conan was a walking enigma.

And one he was afraid he wouldn't be able to decipher.

Phoenix knew that his usual tactics to draw information out wouldn't work on him. The boy was smart, scarily smart. Smart to the point that Conan had succeeded in beating him in a battle of words. Despite all the jokes that Maya made at his expense, he had seriously not expected that to happen. When he'd challenged Conan, Phoenix had thought that he would break him down, that his experience and age would prevail over whatever flimsy lie the boy tried to craft up.

Nope!

He'd put up a better show than Winston Payne, for crying out loud. Not that it was much of an accomplishment to be compared to that guy, but two factors made the comparison somewhat worthwhile. For one, Payne was actually somewhat of a decent lawyer when he was up against greenhorns. For two, Phoenix was comparing a prosecutor who passed the bar exam to… a freaking elementary school kid.

A small boy should not be able to beat a lawyer in a war of words, not even if it was a friendly debate. And it definitely wasn't friendly, he had gone all out and yet Conan still utterly trumped him.

To put things bluntly, he was _way_ too smart for his own good. Back at the lobby, Conan had completely suckered in every last one of them — the police, the witnesses, and Phoenix had to admit… even himself. Conan had crafted a perfect testimony, used his age to gain sympathy from others and secure his alibi, baited him into accusing Trucy, and immediately disproved his objection about the fingerprints by pointing out Trucy's gloves.

And thus, he was forced to eat humble pie and admit that a seven-year-old had somehow managed to completely and thoroughly beat him.

Phoenix shook his head rapidly to get the image of that smirking child out of his mind.

There was definitely something big he was missing.

He wanted-no, _needed_ to get to the bottom of this. At first, it was sheer curiosity that pushed him on to discover the boy's hidden secrets, but now it was personal. He'd tried to manipulate him, and Phoenix absolutely despised people who did that.

And boy, was he about to vocalize that hate.

"Come on, Truce! For Pete's sake, he tried to put you away so he could save himself! Can't you of all people see his true colors? You should have a personal grudge against him!"

Trucy huffed. "Um, I really don't think that he did that intentionally."

"Oh yes he did! He was perfectly aware of what he was doing when he ratted you out to the inspector! Do you have any idea how worried I was when I had to fight to prove your innocence?"

"Hush, Daddy! You do that verbal argument thing all the time in court! I knew you'd get me off the hook!" Trucy had a mischievous smile as she countered. "You can't fool me!"

"Can we at least agree that Conan is a devious, sneaky, evil little spawn that needs to be punished?" he ranted to the three females in the vicinity in an effort to convince himself that he wasn't delusional.

"Are you sure we're talking about the same person?" Trucy rolled her eyes as Phoenix continued rambling on, muttering obscenities under his breath. Seeing that her daddy was lost in his own world, she shook her head and sighed. There was only one way to get his attention back. Giving a sneaky wink to Pearl, she placed her hand on her hip, activating the switch of the hidden mechanism underneath her cape.

And thus Phoenix suddenly found himself looking at the impasse face of Mr. Hat.

The life-sized wooden puppet's mouth then moved. "Little Conan's good with magic! He can't be all that bad, wouldn't you say?"

It was at this point that Phoenix gave up. He sulked and grouchily continued to walk ahead, completely ignoring the ventriloquist act to Trucy's dismay.

Why couldn't people tell when someone was obviously up to no good? Oh wait… there was the Hazakura Temple case, and the whole seven-year spiel about losing his badge, and the Jammin' Ninja case, and…

Okay, maybe it wasn't as easy as he thought to make a cunning mastermind reveal themselves.

"So, Maya," he finally decided to drop the topic about Edogawa Conan, sensing that everyone but him was getting sick of it. "Should we head up to the ballroom now?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Maya cheered. "Of course, Nick! I was wondering when you'd ask!"

Phoenix grumpily turned towards the ecstatic spirit medium. "Then why didn't you just go there first?"

"Because I wanted to wait for you to ask!" Her eyes gleamed with mischief. "Since you were the first to bring it up, it means that you're admitting that you're interested about the Steel Samurai."

Phoenix's eyebrows twitched. "You know what? I think we should go back to talking about creepy little Conan, Maya."

"Noooooo," she whined. "Talking about him is so boring! You keep saying the same things over and over again like a broken recorder!"

"Then did I mention the part about how he had Psyche-Locks around him?!" The moment those words left his mouth, he froze. _Ah crud!_ He hadn't intended to tell them that! He had wanted to keep it to himself, but after all the thoughts about Conan swarming through his mind, he'd accidentally blurted it out.

"Psyche-Locks?" Pearl spoke up, a troubled look on her face. "He had them?"

"Yes, Pearls. And no, before any of you ask—" he glanced at Maya, "—it wasn't for something stupid." He brought up his open palm, all of his fingers outstretched. "He had five of them."

"Five Psyche-Locks?" Maya gave a huff in disbelief. "You're pulling my leg, Nick!"

"No, I'm not!" he vigorously shook his head.

"But that's really unusual," Pearl frowned, biting her lip. "Can I see the Magatama, Mr. Nick?" she asked, holding out her hand.

"Sure thing." He took out the jewel from his pocket and handed it to Pearl, who proceeded to look at it closely.

"You two are making this into a big deal, you know?" Maya shook her head.

"I'm telling you, don't trust him! He's a compulsive liar! This boy's hiding something big, and I'm going to find out exactly what it is!"

"What kind of secret could he possibly have that's worth five Psyche-Locks, Nick? Oh, I know! Maybe it's him being scared of the dark or something. Hahaha!" she chuckled at her own joke.

Phoenix simply glared at Maya. He had been prepared to say "his identity" but decided to keep it from Maya out of spite. He'd only get laughed at more if he revealed the real truth.

"Whatever. Let's just go." He strutted ahead of Maya and the others, making his way towards a mess of people crowding around the ballroom entrance. "I'm not going to talk about Conan anymore, so—"

"Sorry, mister! Did you just say Conan?"

Phoenix looked down to see that a young girl wearing a hairband had just spoken. Seeing that she had grabbed their attention, she looked up at him with glittering eyes. "You're talking about Conan-kun, right?"

 _Oh, come on._ He mentally slapped his forehead. _How did you even recognize what we were talking about when it was in English… oh wait, the name Conan pretty much sounds the same in English and Japanese. Go figure._

"See, Ayumi! I told you Conan snuck away from us to do all sorts of fun stuff again!"

"Don't be like that, Genta-kun."

Phoenix was jolted from his thoughts when two new arrivals ran towards them. "Excuse me?" He meekly raised his arm, overwhelmed by the sudden influx of children around him. "Who exactly… are all of you?"

The three children stopped their talking at his question. Their faces turned bright as they each stepped forward in turn.

"I'm Ayumi!" the girl happily chirped.

The lanky freckled kid bowed slightly. "My name is Mitsuhiko."

"Genta!" The chubby, big-sized boy bellowed.

"And we're the Detective Boys!" all three of them finished in unison.

"The Detective Boys?" Phoenix struggled to form a coherent response over the voices of three enthusiastic kids. "Wait, that doesn't make any sense! There's a girl in there!" he said, pointing at Ayumi.

"That's simple! I'm the leader, so I made the name of this group. There were more boys than girls when it was formed, so we became the Detective Boys!" Genta pumped his fist into the air. "After all, we couldn't possibly call ourselves the Detective Girls after all, that's so girly! Heheheh!"

Mitsuhiko sighed, clasping his forehead. "You're lucky Haibara-san isn't around to hear that one, Genta-kun." He involuntarily shuddered before adding, "You better hope Ayumi-chan doesn't tell her about it."

"Heheheh," Phoenix chuckled, slowly trying to sneak away from the trio. "You know, if we have no business, then I gotta get going…"

"But we do have business with you, mister!" Ayumi grabbed onto his arm, pleading for him to stay.

"We're looking for Conan-kun…" Mitsuhiko started.

"…and we think you know where he is!" Genta finished.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Phoenix frantically waved his arms at them. "I have no clue where that boy is!" He desperately turned to Maya, signaling for help. "Hey, Maya! Get these pests off of me!"

"Nope!" Maya laughed at the onslaught Phoenix was taking.

"Also, that's not a very nice thing to say, Mr. Nick." Pearl wagged her finger disapprovingly. "You shouldn't be mean to kids."

"You're better at kids then me anyway," Maya teased, causing Phoenix to seethe silently.

"Must I really handle this?" Trucy stepped forward. Hearing no response, she simply smirked. "I'll take that as a yes! Looks like this is a job for Trucy! A performance oughta do the trick!" she announced. "I didn't bring any props besides Mr. Hat, so a card trick would have to suffice," she begrudgingly admitted, reaching her hand behind to take a deck of cards out from her back pocket—

"Nick!" Maya cried out at the sight, puffing her face out in anger. "I thought you said that you quit gambling!"

"Yeah, I did!" Phoenix winced at Maya's disapproving stare, but stayed firm. "But Trucy kept all the poker decks after that."

"That's such a lame excuse!"

"Hey! I was trying to save a buck!" Phoenix nonchalantly shrugged, "Those decks were brand new, and she needs them for tricks!"

"How could you just give poker cards to her? That's a bad influence, Nick!"

"Oh, please! You were a terrible influence to Pearls! If she listened to what you said all the time, she would be a rebel teen right now."

"Niiicccckkkkk!"

"Do they always do that?" Mitsuhiko eventually asked, staring at the lawyer and the spirit medium as both of their vocal volumes gradually rose with every retort until their shouting match caught the unwanted attention of practically everyone in the vicinity.

"Yeah, you probably should ignore Daddy and Ms. Maya for now," Trucy said while tossing aside the empty box, leaving the playing cards in her hands. With a flick of her hand, she cut the deck into two and proceeded to riffle shuffle them.

 _PPHHHFFFTTTTT!_

The rhymetic sound of the clattering cards succeeded in getting the children's attention. Smiling widely at being the centre of attention, Trucy ceased the shuffling and spread the deck into a fan with both hands, leaning towards them.

"Pick a card, any card! I bet you I can guess the card you're holding!" she eagerly challenged.

"Oh! I know this trick!" Pearl enthusiastically cried. "You showed it to me years ago!"

"Then don't spoil the surprise, Pearls!" She nodded to Ayumi, who was the closest of the three children. "Come on, they don't bite," she said, referring to the cards. "Pick one, but don't show it to me."

Ayumi hesitantly reached out towards a card around the middle, pulling it from the pile and keeping it held in her hand.

"Good girl!" Trucy reassured. "Remember that card now!" She then shuffled the remainder of the cards in her hands, before reaching out her hand to the young girl. "Kindly place the card you've chosen on the top of the deck."

Ayumi compiled, slowly putting her chosen card at the top. As she did so, Mitsuhiko and Genta both stared attentively at the deck, as though they were waiting for something. Pearl was giving a small, excited squeal. Even Maya and Phoenix stopped their bantering to watch Trucy's performance.

"Now I'm going to be mixing your card up with all of the others," Trucy said, cutting the deck over and over. "Wow, I betcha it's really in there now." she muttered as she continued to cut the deck. Everyone's eyes were on the magician now. They looked intently at the deck of cards, wondering what was going to happen. The anticipation was starting to get to them.

Finally, Trucy stopped cutting the cards. "Now then… Ayumi, was it? What was the card that you picked?"

Ayumi shyly stepped forward. "It was the um… it had nine squares on it."

"The Nine of Diamonds, hm?" She turned her attention to the cards held in the palm of her right hand. "Well then, believe it or not, I'm going to make that card rise to the top of the deck!"

"No way!" Ayumi squeaked, trembling with excitement.

"Oi, are you sure that you can really do something like that?" Genta asked skeptically.

"Watch me!" Trucy closed her eyes, appearing to be deep in thought. "And now with the power of magic…" she swiped the top card using her fingers, glancing at it before turning it around with a flourish. "Ta-da! It's the Nine of Diamonds!"

"Eh! That's right!" Ayumi stepped back, shock visible on her face.

"Wow!" Genta's eyes widened, "The card Ayumi chose really did rise to the top of the deck! How did you do that?"

Trucy gave the boy a wink, "A magician can't tell her audience her secrets!" Hearing that, Genta gave a huff, mumbling something about 'not another person who likes keeping secrets' under his breath.

"Genta-kun," Mitsuhiko prodded his sulking friend with his elbow. "Have you ever considered that Ayumi-chan's card just happened to be at the top after all of the shuffling was done?"

"Hahaha!" Trucy grinned, wagging her finger. "That's unlikely! There's only a one in fifty-two chance of that happening. Anyone can claim that the top card is Ayumi's, but as a magician, I wouldn't stake my reputation on chance, little boy!"

"Oh… um, I guess you're right…" Mitsuhiko looked dejected as his argument was shot down. "Hey, wait a second!" he jolted, his tone turning accustory as he scrutinized the blue-backed playing cards. "What if every single card in the deck is the same? That would make the shuffling useless because the card Ayumi-chan picked out would always be the Nine of Diamonds!"

"Little heckler, eh? You're no fun, boy." Trucy frowned ever so slightly. "Lighten up! There's no need to be like Polly, all serious all the time!"

"But what Mitsuhiko said makes sense. We want to see the cards, magic lady!" Genta asserted.

"Oh well, if you two insist." Trucy proceeded to fan the cards face-up using her hands, revealing that it was indeed a regular deck of cards.

Seeing her disappointed friends, Ayumi marched towards them to cheer them up. "Don't be so down, Mitsuhiko-kun, Genta-kun! Not everything has to be a mystery that must be solved!"

"Oi, Ayumi! You say that like magic's supposed to be an exception compared to everything else." Genta folded his arms. "But it's all the same, a magic trick is simply smoke and mirrors in the end."

Mitsuhiko piped up, "And as a member of the Detective Boys, we have to reveal the truth no matter what, don't we?"

"I don't want to admit it in front of Conan-kun…" Ayumi looked down in embarrassment, idly shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "But with magic, it's different. I feel that magic _should_ be kept secret."

Sensing that the general mood had shifted since the children were beginning to tread into an admittedly pretty heavy topic, Phoenix's protective instincts kicked in. "Um, what happened here?"

Maya chirped in, trying to lighten the mood. "Nick! They're just going through a midlife crisis stage! Everyone goes through it! It's temporary!"

It didn't work.

Ayumi pressed on, "A magic trick only works when you believe it! Break it and it all shatters!" She fidgeted with her hair band. "But I don't want it the illusion to be shattered! I want to believe that magic can break reality!"

Phoenix glanced at Maya, who awkwardly shrugged back. All of them were now officially lost, unsure of where Ayumi was taking the conversation.

"Isn't that the opposite of what a detective is supposed to do? Don't we have to reveal their secrets and show that they're just normal?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"That's true." Ayumi looked down, shame coloring her face. "I know it's not right to like magic, b-but I can't help it…"

"Woah, woah, woah! Stop right there, Ayumi!" Genta put his hands together to form a halt sign. "What does liking magic have anything to do with this?"

"Because if I like magic, then I can't be a detective anymore!"

There was silence after Ayumi's outburst.

"Uh… no, kid." Phoenix eventually muttered. He had been completely sucked into their conversation for quite some time, but the finality of Ayumi's last statement brought him back to reality. It was a cold reminder to him that she was just a child after all, and that children didn't understand everything about the world. "The two have no correlation. You can totally be a magic fan and a detective at the same time," he explained.

"Really? Is that really true?" Ayumi's eyes glistened. "You're not joking?"

"Yep! Look at me, for instance!" Maya piped up, pointing at herself. "My job requires me to be totally slim and fit, but I don't care! I gorge on burgers every single day!"

Phoenix slowly shook his head in disbelief. "That's not a good example! That makes absolutely no sense at all!"

"Oh be quiet, Nick! Do you want a little girl to cry?"

"But Ayumi-chan," Mitsuhiko tilted his head, a question on his the tip of his tongue, "When did you start liking magic?"

She smiled widely. "It was a couple of months back, when I first saw him! You remember, don't you?"

Mitsuhiko looked down, trying to recall. "A couple of months ago… you don't mean?!"

"Yep!" Ayumi gleefully nodded, "I'm talking about the Kaitou Kid!"

"Who?" Phoenix looked around when he realized that all four of his group had simultaneously asked the same question. It looked like he wasn't the only one whose interest was piqued.

"Eh?" Ayumi gazed up to the four of them, her eyes focusing on Trucy in particular, "You don't know who the Kaitou Kid is?"

"I've never heard of anyone by that name before…" Trucy absentmindedly muttered, shaking her head.

"But how?" Ayumi cried. "You're a magician. Shouldn't you know about him?"

"Alright," Phoenix gazed down at the children. "Just what's so special about this guy? Why should Truce know about him just because she does magic?"

"You don't know?" Genta almost shouted. "He's famous for his magic stunts on live TV!"

"Kid really is the modern-day Arsene Lupin!" Mitsuhiko chirped in.

"Kid is the modern-day _who_?" Phoenix was stumped. He'd never heard of _either_ of them.

"Kaitou Kid never actually directly performed a magic trick in front of me…" Aymui mumbled, shifting the flow of the conversation. Phoenix silently thanked his lucky stars for that. He'd have no idea how to reply Mitsuhiko if he ended up talking about some Lupin guy that he'd never even heard of.

Ayumi pursed her lip. "All he did was talk to me. After that, he jumped off the balcony of my apartment—"

"EXCUSE ME!" Phoenix yelled, eliciting mumbles of disapprovals from other people in the crowd. "You saw some guy jump off your balcony? What the heck! How are you not traumatized for life?!"

"Um… I was getting to that," she pouted. "Kid then flew using a glider."

"What." Phoenix rolled his eyes. "That sounded like it came straight out of some superhero movie."

"Peh," Genta grunted. "If you know nothing about Kaitou Kid, then just say it!"

"What?" Phoenix yelped indignantly. "Of course I know about this Kid fellow!"

"Really?" Ayumi tilted her head.

"You sure about that?" Mitsuhiko snorted, giving Phoenix an "are you serious" expression.

"If you know so much about the Kid, then you should know the answer to this question!" Genta challenged, puffing his chest out. "This inside info was only recently leaked out by the chief investigator of the case…"

"Chief investigator?" Phoenix quizzically asked. _What chief investigator? What did I get myself into?_

"…so if you really are a fan, you should have read about the latest exclusive scoop already!"

"Uhhhhhh…" Phoenix trailed off. _I should have known better than to fib to a bunch of kids. Damn, children are getting smarter!_

Genta didn't even notice that Phoenix had opened his mouth in protest. "You know, the article said this very hotel is actually the place where Kid first ran into his infamous arch-nemesis…" he said those last words with a tiny bit of a sneer.

For some reason, Ayumi and Mitsuhiko burst into laughter at that point, making Genta turn on his two friends. "Hey, pipe down! I'm trying to ask him a question here!"

"Excuse me?" Phoenix interrupted. "Is this Kaitou Kid some kind of superhero?" It would make the 'jumping from a building' and 'arch-nemesis' part make sense at least.

All three of the Detective Boys deadpanned. "Are you for real?" Genta finally muttered. "You're a hopeless case, mister!"

"I'm sorry to intrude on this conversation." A new voice chimed in from behind, causing Phoenix to flinch. "I couldn't help but observe that you were talking about the recent Kaitou Kid news interview article that was released by the taskforce."

 _Eh? What the… who now?_ Phoenix spun around to see who the mysterious speaker who spoke up from behind them was, only to find—

Okay… that wasn't exactly what he had expected. Phoenix had expected another young child to be the one that interrupted him—after all, it had already happened twice in the same hotel—but to his surprise the new arrival was very different from Conan and Ayumi.

He was very much older than the two children, a relatively tanned man in his twenties. His attire was plain but stylish, consisting of a slick black jacket with a white shirt underneath, along with grey trousers and polished brown shoes. Phoenix also noted that the man had sharp blue eyes to match his sharp blonde hair, the two things that stood out the most about his appearance.

"So that means you're talking about Edogawa Conan-kun, am I correct?" the man smirked, lifting his head up as he finished his deduction.

Phoenix's eyebrows twitched even more vigorously than when Ayumi had brought Conan up earlier. Come on, was the boy a magnet that was attracted towards him or something? How and why did _everyone and their mother_ know about him?

"You're right!" Ayumi affirmed.

"Eh?" Mitsuhiko clapped his hands together, as if something struck him. "But if you know about Conan-kun, that means you read the article too, Amuro-san!"

"Amuro?" Phoenix repeated, staring at the man, who simply chortled in response. Seeing Phoenix face him, he straightened up and adjusted his attire slightly. "We haven't met before, have we? It would be terribly impolite for me not to introduce myself."

He reached his arm out for a handshake. "Amuro Tooru," he greeted with a warm smile on his face. "A very good morning to you. You are?"

"I'm Wright," Phoenix replied, firmly shaking the man's hand. "Phoenix Wright."

"Wright? Now that's a rather peculiar name. In English that would sound almost like the word 'right'. What an incredibly lucky name for you to have! I sense that your life is headed on the _right_ path."

"Oh, really? Me, lucky? Ha. Ha." Phoenix laughed sarcastically. _What a lucky life I've had so far, huh?_

Amuro grinned as he glanced from the Detective Boys to Phoenix. "New friend of Conan-kun, I suppose?" he guessed.

Phoenix shoved his hands into his pocket, internally cringing at the thought of being friends with that smug boy. "I guess you could say that…" The whole Conan thing was starting to get irritating. He'd only met the boy for barely two hours, and yet Edogawa Conan had been brought up in conversation more times than he could count. The number of mentions _alone_ would require more than both of his hands to list.

His apprehensive behavior did not go unnoticed by Amuro. He raised an eyebrow, "Hm, would I happen to be mistaken?"

"Very," Phoenix bit his lip, trying not to bark off a retort at the man. At least Amuro was being polite about it.

"I see," Amuro's lips twitched upwards in curiosity, "And who would the ladies hovering behind you be?"

"I'm Trucy Wright!" Trucy said, flipping her blue cape to one side for effect. "Magician extraordinaire!"

Maya bowed slightly, which made Phoenix double-take. She was almost never this polite in front of others! "My name's Maya Fey, and this is my cousin Pearl Fey!"

"Fey? Now that's a unique family name." Phoenix couldn't help but notice that Amuro bristled slightly as he spoke. He appeared to be nervous, his hands clammy and jittery.

"Um… are you okay?" Phoenix gazed at him with concern.

"I-It's nothing!" he suddenly shouted. Taking a deep breath, he put his hand to his chin as though he was contemplating something. "Fey just happens to sound similar to the kanji for 'flight', that's all."

Without warning, Amuro turned around with a wave, "Well, it was nice meeting all of you, but I really should be taking my leave. I got front row seats to this concert, and I need to beat the crowd." He then hastily quickened his pace, clumsily banging into people while trying to move away.

"Okay, that was awkward," Maya murmured as soon as Amuro was out of sight. "Do you know this guy? He suddenly seemed so quick to run."

"I've never seen him before in my life," Phoenix replied.

"But I saw him before!" Ayumi raised her hand. "He works at Café Poirot!"

"Café… Poirot?" Phoenix sighed upon hearing the name.

"That guy works at a café? No wonder he's so polite, Nick!"

"Maybe you should go back to Trés Bien to learn those manners?" Phoenix muttered at Maya with an irritated tone, which shut her up. "And to be frank, I was more focused on the fact that they named the café after a fictional detective of all things."

"Anyway, you're Trucy-san, right?" Ayumi went over to the magician in question, tugging her cape. "Can you teach me magic?"

"Huh?" Trucy cried out, surprised by the sudden request.

"It was like I said, I really do like magic! When Kid flew off my apartment, what I saw was something that I'll never forget! He was gliding into the skyline of Beika City while under the stars! It was such a beautiful sight!" Ayumi reminisced the memory so enthusiastically that her smile stretched across her entire face. "I really want to be a great magician so that I can fly like that one day!"

"Flying?" Phoenix tried his best not to double back in laughter. When he couldn't take it and was about to laugh, a sharp glare from Pearl made him hurriedly seal his lips.

"Yep! Flying can help so much with hunting clues for detective work! But to get that good means that I need to start young, so I want to learn magic at once now that I know that I can do it without it interfering with me being a junior detective! Please, Trucy-san!"

"Say no, Trucy," Phoenix hissed in a hushed whisper. Trucy with Apollo and Athena as her assistants was already chaotic enough. Trucy with a _young girl_? He didn't want to imagine the collateral damage. "Please say n—"

"Of course you can!" Trucy squealed, causing Phoenix to groan in dismay.

"Yayyyy!" Ayumi cheered, hugging Trucy's leg. "Thank you, thank you! I promise you that I'll learn well!"

"That's great, Ayumi-chan!" Mitsuhiko clapped with a smile.

"Show us all your tricks in the future, Ayumi!" Genta whistled.

"Yes! I managed to get a magic assistant after all!" Trucy appeared completely ecstatic by the turn of events. "Don't worry, I promise that I'll make you into an excellent apprentice!" she reassured the young girl.

Phoenix tapped Trucy on the back to get her attention. "Uh, I hate to be that killjoy, but how on earth can you keep this up when you live on opposite ends of the Earth from her?"

"Oh, Mr. Nick!" Pearl sighed. "You know that video calling is a thing now, right? How do you think Trucy and I manage to talk so often when I live all the way in Kurain?"

Phoenix was already visualizing Ayumi on a call with Trucy, accidentally giving his adopted daughter evil ideas. He immediately decided that he had to put a stop to this at once. "Hey! Ayumi, was it?" he knelt down to whisper to the girl. "You ever heard of 'stranger danger'? Don't let her get your phone number-oomph!"

"Daddy!" Trucy cried while muffling Phoenix's mouth. "Let me have this moment!"

Maya and Pearl both simultaneously sighed at the sight. Seeing that they had reached the front of the queue, they quietly took out their tickets to hand to the attendant.

"Quietly", at least until Maya caught sight of said attendant.

"Oh my gosh, it's the Steel Samurai!" Maya gushed. "Nick, we _have_ to take a picture!" she ran over to the struggling lawyer, pulling him away from Trucy.

"Wait, wait, wait! Before we do that…" Phoenix glared at the costumed superhero, asking only one question. "Are you Larry Butz?"

"Who?" the masked hero questioned with a raspy voice.

"Okay, we're good. It's not him." Phoenix gave the all-clear.

"Pearly! Get the camera!"

On command, Pearl took out a digital camera, snapping a picture of the duo with the costumed superhero.

"Hey, if that's the other hero, where's Kamen Yaiba?" Ayumi asked aloud.

 _The stolen briefcase… the actor still isn't back from settling it_ , Phoenix thought, immediately realizing the answer.

"Well, this just proves that the Steel Samurai's better!" Maya haughtily proclaimed.

"Uh-uh!" Genta shook his head. "Kamen Yaiba's better, right guys?"

"Right!" Ayumi and Mitsuhiko both gave a thumbs-up at that declaration.

Maya's face fell. "I'm afraid that we can't be friends," she said with a serious tone to the Detective Boys, meaning every word.

"Unfortunately, even if they're not your friends, I'm afraid they're stuck with me."

Ayumi perked up, looking in the direction of the new, but familiar, voice. "Conan-kun!"

 _Oh, speak of the devil!_

Waiting at the front of the queue, just out of sight, was one Edogawa Conan. Beside him were two teenage girls, but to Phoenix, all that mattered was that damn boy.

"I knew you all would be here," Conan closed his eyes as he spoke. "Big, bright red costumed superhero. Kids are attracted to them, so you'd show up here if I waited long enough."

"Don't let your ego flow to your head, brat!" Sonoko snorted. "This is the entrance to the concert, of course your friends would be here eventually!"

The bespectacled boy gave a disgruntled scoff in response. "Honestly, I leave you guys alone for a mere hour and all of you ran off unsupervised from Kogoro-ojisan."

"That includes you!" Sonoko smirked down at the boy. "Pot calling the kettle black, brat," she whispered, causing Conan to scowl.

"Calm down, Sonoko!" Ran tried to hush her friend.

"Looks like you found Conan-kun, Ran-neechan!" Ayumi said with glee.

"Yep!" Ran smiled as she looked down at the enthusiastic group of kids. "All of you stay close this time!" She took out a pile of tickets, handing them over to the costumed Steel Samurai by the doorway. "Here, these are the tickets for all of us!"

"Except for your father, Ran!" Sonoko noted. "Where is he?"

Ran's face turned dark. "Who knows where on earth otou-san ran off to? He's probably smoking, drinking, or gambling. And when I find him—" she punched her fist at the doorway to prove her point, denting the frame slightly.

Conan's face paled at the display of force. _Huh, so that's why he was so scared of her_ , Phoenix realized.

 _Wait a moment!_ Phoenix jolted forwards, staring at the boy. _Conan's right here!_

He'd thought that he had lost him after the lobby incident, but now they had surprisingly crossed paths yet again. Phoenix's face hardened. He finally had the chance to grill the boy, and he would be lying if he said that he didn't relish the opportunity.

"Hey, Pearls," Phoenix whispered. "Can I have the Magatama back, please," he discreetly tapped her, holding out his hand. He needed it at the moment for the Psyche-Locks. Pearl could do whatever check she wanted on it after he'd dealt with Conan.

"Oh yeah!" Pearl passed it back to Phoenix. "Here it is, Mr. Nick! I've checked it and it doesn't appear to be discharged of its spiritual energy. So I dunno if there's anything unusual about it…"

Phoenix nodded his head in acknowledgement, palming the Magatama in his hand.

"Mr. Nick? Are you okay?" Pearl asked with a concerned expression. "You look worried…"

"It's fine!" Phoenix reassured. "You all just go on ahead without me!" he called out to Maya, Trucy and Pearl. "There's something I want to settle."

"You sure, Daddy?" Trucy asked, shoving a scrap of paper with Ayumi's phone number into her pocket.

"Yes! I'll be back in ten minutes, tops!"

"Well, if you insist, Nick! Come on, Pearly!"

As his three companions went into the ballroom, he patiently waited until Conan and the others had their tickets checked. It only took a minute before the Detective Boys ran into the ballroom with Ran and Sonoko in tow.

"Wait a moment!" he called out to Conan as the boy was about to walk into as well. "Before you go…" he started, reaching into his suit pocket.

 _I don't care if people think badly of me for confronting a seven-year-old. To hell with dignity! I've had an absolutely terrible morning, and I'm going to make sure at least one good thing comes out of this…_

Phoenix had a feral grin on his face as he held out the jade-green Magatama, holding it in his hand. "There're a few questions that I want to ask you, Edogawa Conan."

The use of his full name stopped the boy in his tracks. "Ran-neechan, can you give me a moment?" Conan said in a cheery tone, his back turned away from Phoenix. "Wright-san wants to talk to me!"

"Um… okay!" Ran hesitantly nodded her head in agreement. "Hurry back soon, Conan-kun!"

As Ran walked into the ballroom, Conan turned around to face the attorney. His eyes had a twinkle of amusement in them as he calmly strolled towards Phoenix.

It was only left with the two of them now.

Conan finally stopped about ten paces away from Phoenix. He pushed his glasses up towards the bridge of his nose using his finger before he spoke. "So what kind of questions do you want to ask, Wright-san?" His tone went down an octave, almost like he was challenging him.

Phoenix stretched the arm holding the Magatama out, letting the figure-nine shaped charm glow green in his palm. Almost at once, invisible metal chains rattled into place, encompassing the bespectacled boy. Five red metallic locks locked into place around his heart.

"What's that shining thing you're holding?" Conan glared at the glowing charm. "Hey, what's going on here?" he folded his arms, demanding an answer.

Phoenix had a savage grin on his face as he met Conan's furious eyes. The expression on his own face basically told Conan that he was deliberately refusing to entertain the boy. _Too bad for you! You can't see the Psyche-Locks because you don't have a Magatama, and I certainly ain't telling you. It's payback time for sticking the blame for the theft onto Truce!_

"Let's just get to the point," he started with a tired voice. "You haven't been honest with me one bit since we've met. I don't like that very much, so I'll appreciate it if you tell me the truth this time."

Conan gave him a dirty look. "Is this about your daughter and the briefcase? I keep telling you, I didn't lie to the police! Everything I said was the truth! Besides, isn't she already free to go?" he pointed at the ballroom, referring to Trucy. "Can't you let go of this stupid grudge?"

"Woah, I never said I had a grudge against you," Phoenix held his hands up to defend himself, though he was forced to admit that even he wasn't sure if what he'd just said was true. "Sure you might have a point there given that Trucy is out of custody, but it's more than just about the briefcase now. You thought I couldn't tell that you were lying to my face from the very first thing you told me."

"From the first thing I told you?" he retorted. "What do you mean by that?"

"When we first met, you had introduced yourself to me as Edogawa Conan." Phoenix couldn't help but step forward, towering over the boy. He smirked when he saw that Conan had frozen stiff, letting out a startled gasp.

The attorney couldn't help but to grin even wider when the invisible metal chains all around the boy began to rattle. "You already know what I'm going to say, don't you? That's not your real name, is it? Why don't you just admit it!"

After that verbal beating, Conan started to breathe in heavily. It was only a couple seconds later before he tried to compose himself. "Well…" he nervously chuckled, twiddling his fingers. "W-Whatever made you think that?" he rasped.

Phoenix narrowed his eyes. _Hah, like his behavior right now doesn't scream suspicious?_ "The story you gave me about your name was totally bogus!"

Conan snorted at his response. As though he had suddenly realized something, his usual confidence suddenly came back to him. "Hahaha!" he chuckled innocently. "That's a good one, but I'm afraid that just like with the gloves last time, you're talking nonsense once again."

"Y-You!" Phoenix spluttered, surprised by the boy's sudden vigor. "You've got some nerve saying that, kid!"

"Still not backing down? Well then, I'm just going to have to spell it out for you, Wright-san." Conan held his hands wide open in a provocative manner. All traces of the innocent seven-year-old had completely vanished now. "If you've got proof, then come at me. But if you have nothing at all, then as a detective…" He tilted his head up, locking his phlegmatic blue eyes with Phoenix's once more. "I'm afraid that it's my job to shoot down your argument."

Phoenix Wright clenched his fists, only one thought dominating his mind as he looked at Edogawa Conan directly in the eye.

 _I know you're lying, dammit! And I'm going to prove it by breaking your Psyche-Locks and finding out everything that you're hiding from me!_

 _Just you watch, you cocky little boy! I'm going to get you!_

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

[EDIT: Quite a few observant people brought up a plot hole with the original version of this chapter. I've made a few edits to give a legitimate reason as to why Amuro didn't get Psyche-Locked while poor Conan did. Thanks for the catch, I appreciate it!]

Yes, that was indeed a reference to the balcony scene in _The Last Wizard of The Century_. Quite frankly, that is probably one of the most agreed-on headcanons regarding Ayumi.

That card trick that Trucy showed off is totally legitimate. It's also a pretty simple one, so chances are you can probably guess how it was done.

By the way, I hope I did well with the subversion of expectations. This chapter is pretty much written in the style of "hi nothing special at the start, just the Detective Boys- _hahaha jk surprise lol, ka-wham_ ". Sorta like what Gosho did with the latest chapter, I suppose.

Next time — finally plot? I hope so too, readers. ;)


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